


Fatal Exception

by luckandillusions



Category: Westworld (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Angst with a Happy Ending, Computer Programming, Multi, Mystery, Robot/Human Relationships, Slow Burn, Western
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2018-08-23 04:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8313448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckandillusions/pseuds/luckandillusions
Summary: Elizabeth doesn't go to Westworld for a vacation. She isn't interested in being a white hat or a black hat. She lost her father to this park, and she carries a grudge. But when she realizes the hosts might not be as robotic as she originally thought, her world is turned upside down.





	1. Chapter 1

Gunshots rang out, a few people screamed. Elizabeth just rolled her eyes. “This is a stick up, nobody try anything!” The piano continued playing an instrumental of a Rolling Stones song. It was the only thing that felt out of place in the bar, but the other guests loved it.

She stood up and turned around. Her hand went for her pistol. “I said don’t try anything!” The guest shouted. His hands shook as he held out his gun.

“Go ahead, shoot me. It won’t do anything, anyway,” she told him. Realizing she was another guest, the man whirled on the host who’d been sitting a few chairs down at the bar. The host looked at Elizabeth. She noticed how human his fear was. But that was what Westworld was known for, the details. “Now, don’t be an asshole. What’d he do to you?”

“I’ll shoot him!” The man threatened.

“This has got to be the world’s worst robbery.” Elizabeth sighed, pulled out her gun, and shot the two hosts that were accompanying the man. “You lose. Play again?” The man looked at her, then finally turned away. He walked dejectedly out of the saloon.

Elizabeth turned back to the bar and grabbed her drink. She holstered her gun, as she knocked back the bourbon. Then she headed toward the door. “Miss? Wait!” She looked over her shoulder, and saw the host she’d just saved. He caught up with her, just as she reached the door. “You saved my life, thank you.”

She smirked. “Yeah, some cowboy you are, huh?”

He laughed. “A friend of mine used to tell me I dressed like a cowboy, but that’s about the extent of it.” Elizabeth shook her head, amused. She reached out to push open the door. “Can I get your name?”

She tilted her head to the side, but decided to humor him. “Elizabeth, but my friends call me Beth.”

“Nice to meet you, Beth. I’m Teddy.”

“Did I say we were friends, Teddy?”

He grinned. “Maybe not, but I’d like to be.”

She looked down at the ground, and then back up at him. She pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes as she thought. She rubbed at her arms. Her cowgirl outfit was high quality, and actually quite comfortable. But she wasn’t used to it yet. “How’d you like to come on an adventure with me, Teddy who’s not a cowboy?”

“I’d love to.”

She shook her head. “Alright, let’s see if you can keep up.”

OoOoO

The following day, Elizabeth and Teddy left Sweetwater. They made camp out in the desert under a tree. He’d disappeared to catch a rabbit. She’d let him, figuring the hosts were probably programed to be better hunters. Elizabeth was skeptical about eating a synthetic animal. But, supposedly people thought it tasted just like the real thing.

She leaned back on her hands, letting the fire warm her. It was cold out, when the sun wasn’t beating down. Suddenly hands wrapped around her arms, her mouth was covered so she couldn’t shout. Elizabeth searched frantically for her gun, and found it on the other side of the campfire.

A man stepped into her view, Elizabeth recognized him immediately. She’d stopped him from robbing the saloon the other day. “Where’s the cash, doll?”

Whoever was behind her, tied her arms together with a rope. “Why are you robbing me, when there’s literally a bank in Sweetwater?”

“I saw you on the train yesterday morning, you just got here. Which means, you still have all your cash.” Every guest was given a stack of cash when they got their outfits. And this guy was right, Elizabeth had barely spent any of her allotment. “Figured you’d be an easier mark than the bank. I’m just warming up.” He rolled his shoulders. “Plus, you owe me for that white hat move you pulled back there.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not a white hat, just a girl trying to enjoy her bourbon in peace.”

“Whatever, if you won’t hand over the cash, I’ll just take it.” The two hosts who’d been behind her started searching her stuff. Elizabeth wiggled her hands, subtly, testing the ropes. They weren’t too tight. Perks of the hosts being programed not to hurt guests.

There was a rustling in the bushes. All three men looked toward it. Two shots rang out, and the hosts dropped. Elizabeth wiggled more frantically. Her arms were almost free. Teddy stepped from the bushes, and the guest whirled on him. “Oh, good. We can finish this too.” Teddy pointed his gun at the guest, but the guest just looked amused.

Elizabeth’s eyes landed on a knife, she quickly darted for it. The guest turned his gun on her. “You can’t hurt me with that, and you know it.” She waved the knife. “This, on the other hand, doesn’t have safeguards.”

“You wouldn’t.”

She shrugged. “I mean, the call’s yours. But, I’ve got things to do, and I don’t have time for this. So, I’d suggest you get the fuck out of my camp.” He took a few steps backwards, looking genuinely worried. “And for future reference, I’d recommend sticking to Sweetwater. You’re not ready for the big leagues.”

He took off, leaving behind the two host bodies. Elizabeth looked down and gave one of them a kick. “I’m not moving that fire I built, so I guess we’re moving these.” She grabbed one by the legs and dragged it off into the bushes, out of sight. Teddy did the same with the other one. “You were bullshitting me back at the saloon, weren’t you? You looked scared then, but the way you just wasted those two…”

“It’s all part of the charm. I said I wasn’t a cowboy, not that I wasn’t a gunslinger.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Whoever scripted these synths must really have a taste for cheese.

“Well, thanks for the save, anyway,” she said. She began picking up the mess that the hosts had made.

“Just being chivalrous.”

“Next time, don’t,” she said, firmly. Turning around to face him. “I can handle myself.”

“That guy had a gun pointed at you, and you were going to attack him with a knife,” Teddy said skeptically. “You’ve definitely got guts, Beth.”

“I mean it, Teddy. Don’t go putting yourself in harms way to protect me, especially when they have a gun.” Elizabeth walked closer to him.

“Normally the girls like it when I save the day.”

“Well, I’m not the usual kind of girl.” Elizabeth started to cross her arms, but before she could, Teddy grabbed her by the waist. She draped her arms over his shoulders. “Outlaw? Thief?” She asked, guessing at his backstory.

“Bounty hunter.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Not as good as outlaw, but still pretty hot.” Elizabeth leaned in and kissed him. She’d never kissed a synth before, even though most of her coworkers had, at one point or another. Elizabeth always thought it would be too weird, kissing something she could have built. It wasn’t. She leaned back. “No more hero acts?”

“No promises.”

“I’ll let you in on a secret,” she whispered. “I’m practically invincible.” He laughed quietly, unaware that she wasn’t kidding. Elizabeth smirked. “Okay, whatever.”

OoOoO

Teddy and Elizabeth lay on the ground under the stars. No matter how much she read about Westworld, nothing compared to actually being here. Everything was perfect. The park wasn’t some fantasy Wild West out of an old movie. It was real. So real she could almost forget she wasn’t actually a cowgirl. Almost, but not quite.

“You never told me what this big adventure is,” Teddy said. Elizabeth glanced over at him. He pushed himself up, so he was leaning back on his elbows.

Elizabeth decided it didn’t much matter what she told a host. All the guys behind the scenes already knew who she was. She’d gone through the background checks, just like every other park guest. “I’m looking for my dad,” she admitted. “He came here a long time ago, and he lost a piece of himself.”

“The desert can do that do a person.”

She nodded. “He started visiting more and more often. Eventually my mom left him, and she took me with her. I haven’t seen him since then, but I’ve kept tabs. He still visits every year. So, this time, I’m going after him.” Elizabeth sat up and looked around. “I’ve been planning this for a long time. I wasn’t going to come all the way here, and end up like any other guest, you know?”

“You mean the newcomers who spend all their time drinking and whoring in town?” Teddy asked.

“Exactly,” she said. “So I read as much as I could, and I talked to people who visited. I learned everything I could about this place. I even took lessons to learn how to fire a gun and ride a horse. You’d never know this was my first time out here.”

He smiled. “No, you’re practically one of the locals.”

“People come here to live out their Wild West dreams,” she said quietly. “Whether that’s being a cowboy, or a bandit, or just a tourist. But I’m not here for that. I’m here for my dad. I’m the only one who can go after him.”

“You’ll find him, Beth,” Teddy reassured her. She smiled sadly.

“I always imagined going it alone. I never thought I’d be taking anyone along with me. Let alone someone as useless as you.” She smirked.

“Hey, I saved your life yesterday.”

Elizabeth laughed. “When I saw you in that bar, I don’t know. I guess you were the first hos– first person here to make me feel anything.” She shrugged. “Well, other than annoyance.”

“I made you feel something,” Teddy repeated, flirtatiously.

She rolled her eyes and let out a breathy laugh. “What can I say? I guess you’re my type. They do know how to make ‘em around here.”

OoOoO

Elizabeth woke up in a glass room. Even after only three days in the park, the modern building was a shock to her system. She startled, and almost fell out of her rolling chair. The door opened and two men walked in. One of them wore glasses, the other one looked angry. Elizabeth wondered if that was just his face. “What the fuck is this?” She asked.

“I’m Bernard Lowe, and this is Ashley Stubbs with quality assurance. It’s come to our attention that you’ve had an altercation with another guest.” He pushed up his glasses.

“And you couldn’t have taken me someplace more comfortable?” Elizabeth looked around the room. “There’s got to be offices for this kind of thing. And what’s a girl gotta do to get a drink around here?”

“This is the behavior department, it was the quickest extraction point,” Bernard explained. “And don’t worry, the host you’ve been traveling with is fine, your storyline is intact.”

She tilted her head. “You’re head of the behavior department, right? I’ve seen you do interviews. Why’s the head of host behavior interested in a little row between two guests.”

“You threatened another guest's life,” Stubbs said, speaking for the first time.

“He was trying to rob me,” Elizabeth defended. “Keep him away from my campsite, and we won’t have any more problems.” She looked around the room again. “You know, I don’t think this is protocol. Bringing a guest into the behavior department seems a little odd. I have a feeling this is an off books kind of conversation.” Neither Bernard nor Stubbs denied it.

“Let me guess, this is because of _him_.” The two men shared a look. “Thought so. I’m off limits because of him. I think that’s a good thing, but it still makes my skin crawl.”

Stubbs frowned. Elizabeth concluded it was just his face. “Elizabeth Fowler,” he read off his tablet. “Is that your mother’s maiden name?”

“You’re looking at my file, you tell me.” She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms.

“You had it changed. Did you and your father have a falling out?”

“Falling out implies that we were ever _in_ to begin with.”

“Top of your class at MIT, and now head programmer at Service Synthetics.” Stubbs stopped reading and nodded. “That must be a comfy job.”

She smirked. “Oh, it is. I have a great job, and I’m one of the best in the game. Five years ago, Service Synths was a startup in Santa Clara. Now, it’s the number one commercial synthetic manufacturer.” Elizabeth looked between the two of them. “And there it is. The reason you brought me down here. You think I’m trying to steal your ideas?”

“We didn’t accuse you of anything,” Bernard assured her.

“You’ve seen my file, you know who I am and why I’m here. I’m not concerned with your synthetics. I make housekeepers and secretaries. No one cares if the blonde bimbo working the phones has anything going on in her head. They want a cute synth, who will laugh at their jokes and show their rich investors just how successful they really are.”

“We did a second sweep,” Stubbs said. “She didn’t bring any illegal tech into the park.”

“Did I do something wrong? Because, if you’re not going to have me arrested, then let me leave.”

Bernard nodded. “You’re free to go, Ms. Fowler.”

“Great, thanks.” She stood up and walked past them to the door. “I expect I’ll be reimbursed for the time I’ve spent in here and not outside in the park?”

“You were sleeping,” Stubbs protested.

“Yes, and now I’m going to have a sleep debt.” Stubbs frowned harder. “And tell your boss, if he has something to say to me, he can say it in person.” Elizabeth walked out into the hall, and the door closed shut behind her with a bang.

A host in a white dress appeared by her side. The Mesa Hub hosts were more like Service Synths', no backstory, just a job to do. “I’ll escort you back to the park now.”

Elizabeth looked her up and down. “You’re cute,” she noted.

The host smiled. “We can delay your return back to the park, if you’d like.”

“I’m paying too much money to waste my time here.” Elizabeth laughed. “But maybe when I’m back in Mesa Gold after my twenty-eight days are up?”

The host escorted Elizabeth into an elevator and pressed a button. “When you get to Mesa Gold, request Angela,” she told Elizabeth as the doors closed.

The glass elevator rose up, through the ground. The modern world grew farther and farther away with each second. Then the doors opened up right out in the middle of the desert. Elizabeth stepped out. She could just make out the fire from her campsite. When she turned back to look at the elevator, it was gone, in it’s place was an ugly bush.


	2. Chapter 2

After days of searching for any leads on Elizabeth’s father, she and Teddy had turned up nothing. They’d only arrived in the park a few days apart, but that apparently translated into miles of travel time. Maybe they wouldn’t even find him at all. This park was huge, who knew how far he’d gotten already.

Neither of them was particularly motivated to keep moving, so they made camp early. Elizabeth tossed her bag down, and then flopped on top of it. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was better than nothing.

A week ago, she’d been enamored with the scenery. But, after days of camping in spots that looked exactly the same, Elizabeth was beginning to feel like she would never see grass again. As far as the eye could see it was desert; dirt, cacti, even tumbleweeds every so often.

Elizabeth almost hoped that the grouchy security guard would pull her back out of the park, just for a change of scenery. She knew there was mountains and a beach somewhere, but they hadn’t even made it to the river yet.

Elizabeth turned to look at Teddy. He was staring off into the distance, his eyes crinkled up, as if he was thinking real hard. It was the sort of expression she’d never been able to create on her own synthetics. Not for lack of talent, but it wasn’t the kind of thing standard service models needed. Most of the time she liked her job, but it sometimes it bugged her than she basically programed glorified smart phones.

Teddy glanced over at her. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed her staring. Elizabeth shrugged. “What’re you thinking about?” He just shook his head. Maybe that thoughtful look was just standby mode.

“You have family back home?” He asked after a few moments. “Besides your dad?”

“Just my mom. My grandparents died when I was younger,” she explained. “I have an uncle, but he’s sort of a character. We don’t see him much. I mean I’ve seen Logan more in the past few years than my father. But, that’s not really saying much.

Elizabeth sighed. “But anyways, me and my mom are close. She uprooted her life for me twice. We’re inseparable.” She laughed quietly. “That sounds incredibly sad, doesn’t it?”

“No, it sounds nice.” Teddy smiled encouragingly. “I was never close with my folks.”

After a moment of silence, Elizabeth continued. “When my dad left, things were hard. Mom had done such a good job of keeping things from me. She probably stayed longer than she should have, just because she didn’t want to turn my life upside down. But, it had to happen eventually. I didn’t know about this place back then, all I knew was that my dad wasn’t around much. I thought that was normal. When I realized it wasn’t, I started to wonder what I had done to make him abandon us. Of course, I know now that his issues went way beyond me. But, when I was eleven, I didn’t understand that.”

Elizabeth sighed, and buried her head in her makeshift pillow. It had been a long time since she’d told this to anyone. The last person she’d told was Alexa, and only after months of dodging the emotional stuff. Eventually they all left, it was better not to waste the energy.

But talking to Teddy came easy. Maybe it was knowing his memory would be wiped once she was gone. Or maybe it was just how close she was to seeing her father again. She looked up at Teddy. He was quiet, but watching her. He looked genuinely sympathetic. Like he was searching for the right words to make her feel better. She knew it was all programming, but it made her chest tighten nonetheless.

Opening up meant caring, and caring led to disappointment. Elizabeth decided it was time to change the subject. “I also have a cat.” She smiled. Teddy grinned. “Best cat ever, she even does a trick.”

They spent hours talking. At least, Elizabeth spent hours talking. At some point she closed her eyes, but her mouth kept moving. She didn’t even know if Teddy was listening anymore, but she didn’t mind either way. It felt nice to just talk.

Elizabeth was just about to start in on Alexa, when the sound of horses interrupted her. She opened her eyes just enough to see. She recognized a few of them as guests, just by their nervous yet excited expressions. Half the group was hosts.

Their leader was Sweetwater’s sheriff, a bulky host with a think mustache. He looked more like Santa Claus than a threatening lawman. There were two more hosts, the Sheriff’s deputies, and a pair of guests. The man wore a perfectly pressed black suit, he stuck out like a sore thumb. He wouldn’t last. The woman was around Elizabeth’s age. She wore a leather vest and clutched a long riffle like she couldn’t wait to pull the trigger.

Teddy hopped up. “There you are, boy,” the sheriff said, staring down at him. “Been looking for you out in all your usual places. Caught wind of a guy, I think it’s the one you’ve been looking for. Wyatt?”

“I’m coming with you,” Teddy answered quickly, without a second thought.

“That’s what we were hoping for.”

Teddy went for his bags. Elizabeth rolled over, and grabbed his arm. “Wait a minute, you can’t just take off.”

“Wyatt is bad news, I’ve got to go after him.” Teddy pulled free of her grip and continued gathering his things.

Elizabeth bit her cheek to keep herself from shouting that this was just a stupid storyline. “Fine, whatever. I wanted to do this on my own anyway.” She leaned on her elbows, trying to act as if she wasn’t fazed by it. Elizabeth was good at pretending everything was fine, even when she felt like her stomach had dropped two feet down. Her throat was getting scratchy, the way it did before a good cry. She wanted to believe they were just frustrated tears welling up in her eyes, but even she wasn’t that good of a liar.

She stared at her fingernails, willing herself not to cry. Her nails were ragged from how much she picked at her hangnails. She’d been right to rein in the sharing, but she hadn’t done it quick enough. Too much of an emotional investment had already been made. Teddy was going to leave, just like everyone else.

“I’m not trying to abandon you,” Teddy said, as if he could read her mind. “Beth, we haven’t had a lead on your dad in days. You aren’t going to find anything wandering around aimlessly in the desert, except for rattlesnakes,” Teddy continued. “Come with us.” He gave her a pleading look, dark eyes focused. “Who knows, maybe we’ll find a lead out there.”

Damn, Ford was good. Elizabeth didn’t look up, but she answered quickly, “Okay.” After a moment she glanced over at him. Teddy smiled. Elizabeth groaned and rolled over to get her bag. This wasn’t exactly helping her attachment issues. But, if she was paying $40k a day to be here, she might as well get a little use out of these “award-winning” storylines.

OoOoO

They’d been riding with the bounty hunters for hours. The guests knew each other from town, and talked amongst themselves. The hosts would chime in from time to time, but mostly they rode in silence. Elizabeth did too, until curiosity finally got the better of her. “Who is this guy anyway?” She asked, riding up between Teddy and the Sheriff.

“Bad shit from what I’ve heard,” the Sheriff answered. As much as he looked like Santa, the Sheriff sounded like him too. It was disconcerting to hear such a cheerful old man talk about murderers. “He’s a mercenary. He’s got a whole crew, they wear the skins of their enemies.”

Elizabeth grimaced. “Sounds charming.”

“They’re just masks,” Teddy corrected. “It’s the people underneath you have to fear. They’d do anything for Wyatt, kill anyone. Pain doesn’t slow them down, and they don’t fear death.”

Elizabeth had read walkthroughs on every single storyline in the park. She had wanted to make sure she had a way out in case she accidentally walked into a storyline she didn’t mean to. But she’d never seen anything about a Wyatt. It must have been a brand-spanking new storyline. Elizabeth sincerely hoped it wasn’t too difficult, because she only had 21 days left in the park.

“You learn a lot about him, while you were tracking him?” The Sheriff asked Teddy.

Teddy shook his head. “I wasn’t tracking him.” He paused. “I wasn’t always a bounty hunter. I used to be a soldier, and Wyatt was my commanding officer. Till one day, he disappeared, and when he came back he had all sorts of crazy ideas.”

“Like what?” Elizabeth asked.

“He said the land didn’t belong to the natives, or the new settlers.” Teddy paused, his eyes distant, lost in memory. “He said, it belonged to him.”

“So, he started some cult?” Elizabeth asked, wondering if this was just a revamp of the retired cult in the mountains plot.

Before he could answer, the Sheriff motioned for everyone to be quiet. The party rode up onto a plateau. The smell of rot invaded Elizabeth’s nose. She covered her mouth to keep from being sick. Tied to a tree were the bodies of three men. Flies swarmed them.

Teddy and the Sheriff dismounted, moving to take a closer look. “Holy hell,” the girl with the riffle said.. Elizabeth watched the woman dismount and walk toward the tree.

“We should keep going,” Elizabeth eyed the treeline nervously. “There’s nothing we can do for them now.” The Sheriff nodded his agreement, and motioned everyone back to the horses. Before they could make it, gunshots rang out.

The horses shrieked and a few of them took off. Elizabeth tried to keep control of hers, but it bucked. She bailed before the horse could throw her off. Mentally she cursed management for claiming the horses were always docile. She ducked behind a boulder. Across from her she watched a host get shot, the guest in the black suit looked like he was going to wet himself.

Elizabeth popped up, and looked around, but didn’t see any shooters. She made a dash for the rock Teddy and the Sheriff were ducked behind. The woman followed her. “Okay, here’s the plan,” Elizabeth said. “I’ll draw their fire, and you guys make a run for it.”

“No way,” Teddy told her. “I’ll do it.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

“I’m staying for backup,” The Sheriff told her. “I took an oath.” The three of them looked at the two guests.

The man shook his head fiercely. “Hell no, I’m not staying.”

“I’ll take him back to town,” the third host said.

Elizabeth looked at the girl. She grabbed her gun. “I’ve come too far to turn back now, right?” The girl looked wide eyed, but determined. Elizabeth appreciated it.

Elizabeth nodded. “Alright, when I say so, we make a run for those trees. And for the love of god, don’t get shot.” She gave Teddy a pointed look.

They nodded, and crawled to the edge of the rock. “Okay, let’s go!” Elizabeth dashed for the tree line. She didn’t look back to check if the others were behind her.

The other guest hit the tree next to her with a thump. She crouched, and looked up at Elizabeth with a smile. “I’m Marti, by the way.”

Elizabeth leaned around the tree and searched for attackers. “Now’s not really the best time for introductions.” Teddy and the Sheriff joined them. “I think they cleared out for the moment, they were probably just trying to scare us.”

Teddy nodded for everyone to follow him. They continued on the way they had been heading, uphill. It was slower now, without the horses, and most of their supplies had been in the saddlebags. Elizabeth wished she had stayed behind.

When the sunset it got cold fast. The darkness cast funny shadows, making everything look bigger and more threatening than it did in the light. It was almost like a fun house. Even the birds had gone to sleep. The only sounds came from the four of them.

“Just because we haven’t seen Wyatt’s men, doesn’t mean they’re not still lurking,” Teddy reminded them. “If you see them, shoot, and don’t stop shooting.”

They came to an open space without cover, between the trees and the closest boulder. Elizabeth made a run for it first, and when no one shot at her, she motioned for the other three to follow. Teddy made it, but when Marti ran she tripped. In the dark it was hard to see, but Elizabeth could’ve sworn there was a trip wire. The sudden demonic roar in the distance supported her suspicion. “God, I hate this place,” she hissed.

More shots roared, and then figures appeared. They were dressed in black with masks that covered their faces completely. One of them ran the Sheriff through with a spear before Elizabeth even had the chance to shoot.

Marti screamed. Elizabeth grabbed her arm and pulled her away. Teddy shot at the people behind them. Marti and Elizabeth grabbed their guns and started shooting. “Fuck, I’m out,” Elizabeth announced.

“Me too,” Marti said.

Elizabeth grabbed her knife. “You two, go to town and get more help. I’ll buy you time.”

Marti’s eyes widened. “This must not be your first rodeo.”

“If only you knew.”

“If you’re staying, I’m staying,” Marti decided. Teddy nodded his agreement, though Elizabeth knew he wasn’t going anywhere anyway. The masked men were closing in. Elizabeth launched herself at the closest one and her knife connected with flesh.

She was flung to the ground, and she hit it hard. Her vision went fuzzy. “Elizabeth!” Teddy shouted. It was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.

OoOoO

Elizabeth woke in a cell. At least, that’s what it was now. From the contents of the room, it had probably been a storage room before. “Oh, you’re awake.” Elizabeth looked across the room and found Marti. “It’s Elizabeth, right? Can I call you Liz? Lizzy?”

Elizabeth cringed. “I prefer Beth.”

“I was really fucking worried about you.” Marti gave Elizabeth a small nervous smile. “I mean, I know hosts aren’t supposed to hurt us, but you were out cold.” She shook her head. “I thought a Delos security team might show up to get you or something.”

“That waiver you sign basically says the only way you _can’t_ die in here is by gunshot.” Elizabeth rolled an aching shoulder. “Anything else accidental is on you.”

Marti scrunched up her nose. “I suddenly feel a lot less safe.”

Elizabeth stood up and looked through the door’s tiny window. There were a few people outside. “How many out there?” Elizabeth asked.

“Four, maybe five.” Marti said. “These guys seem different from the ones who attacked us. More, I don’t know, normal?”

Elizabeth turned back around. “What if that’s the other half of the storyline? Hunting down Wyatt is the white hat storyline, but joining Wyatt’s gang is for the black hats.”

“You think those might have been guests back there?”

“Teddy said they didn’t fear death, right?” She paused. “Speaking of, have you seen him?”

Marti shook her head. “They took him somewhere else.” She offered Elizabeth a sympathetic look. “I guess that probably means he’s dead.”

“Rip that plank off,” Elizabeth said suddenly, she pointed at a crate what was falling apart. Marti did as she said. “Stab me with it.”

“No fucking way.”

“In the arm or somewhere, nonlethal,” Elizabeth amended. “If those are hosts, they’ll have to stop you. It’s in their Good Samaritan programming.”

“And if they’re guests?”

“Then they’ll have to help me, because they can’t just let another human bleed out,” she reasoned. “Either way, they’ll open that door, and then we’ll jump them.”

“I’m not going to stab you, Beth!”

“Marti, come on!” The other girl didn’t make a move toward her. So Elizabeth lunged for her. “Fight back!”

Marti swung the plank, knocking Elizabeth across the stomach. Elizabeth doubled over but grabbed the plank on the way down, knocking Marti off balance. The door flew open. “Hosts,” Elizabeth whispered. One of them reached for her, but Elizabeth swung the jagged plank, impaling him. Marti knocked the other host’s head into the wall, and it crumbled.

The two girls ran out into the main room. Elizabeth grabbed one of the hosts’ guns and tossed another to Marti. They ran outside, shooting any hosts that tried to stand in their way. There were horses tied to a post, and Marti headed for them.

“Head back to town,” Elizabeth told her.

“Where are you going?” Marti asked.

“I’ve got business,” Elizabeth said. “But first, I have to find Teddy.”

OoOoO

When Elizabeth finally made it back to the plateau Teddy was nowhere to be found. Then again, she hadn’t expected him to be. Most likely he’d been killed, and management had already collected his body to do a reboot.

She’d been hoping to get to him first, she was pretty sure she could override the programming that made him die. The reboots weren’t necessary, Delos only wiped the hosts so they wouldn’t remember their gruesome deaths, but synthetics never actually died. Without the shutdown programming they’d just keep on going, albeit with a bullet hole or two.

Elizabeth didn’t really know why she cared so much. She’d been expecting, hell maybe even hoping, to go on this excursion all by herself. But now that she was actually alone, she found she missed the company. With a disappointed sigh, Elizabeth headed off. She’d wasted enough time; she needed to get back on track.

She had always worked better on her own anyways. Back home she did at least half her programming from her apartment. She’d even done it when she was engaged to the CEO of the company. It drove Alexa nuts, but Elizabeth needed the peace and quiet. Too many distractions and she’d never actually get anything accomplished.

As she neared the other side of the plateau, she noticed something. A solitary tree that looked a little off. She rode toward it, and quickly realized why. There was a body tied to it. She gave her horse a kick until she was right in front of him. “Teddy,” she whispered. She put her hand on his cheek, and his eyes opened slowly. “You’re alive.”

“Beth?” He whispered.

“Yeah, it’s me. I’m gonna get you down, you’re going to be okay.” She grabbed her knife and set to work, cutting the ropes. Teddy fell to the ground, ungracefully. He groaned. Elizabeth dismounted and knelt down next to him.

She grabbed the canteen, which had been on this saddle when she stole the horse. “Here, drink some water.”

“I thought you were dead.” Teddy croaked. “I didn’t think you’d come back.”

Elizabeth smiled. “I told you, I’m practically invincible.”

He tried to look up at her, but she could tell he was in too much pain. “You shouldn’t have come back, I’ll just slow you down.”

She smirked. “That’s true. But I couldn’t just leave you to die, now could I? I’m no white hat, but I’m not cruel.”

“You like me.” Teddy cracked the tiniest smile.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Just shut up and let me take care of you.”


	3. Chapter 3

With great effort, Elizabeth managed to get Teddy onto her horse. She walked, pulling the horse alongside her. Teddy looked rough, and Elizabeth worried he wouldn’t make it without immediate medical attention, but she didn’t know where to take him. They were about equal distance from both Sweetwater and Pariah. The latter was at least in the direction she wanted to head, but at least a day’s ride, maybe more. Elizabeth wasn’t sure Teddy would make it that long.

They had gotten far enough in the park, that the scenery had finally changed. No more drab colors and ugly bushes. Outside the park, a handful of trees and some sparse grass wouldn’t have done much for Elizabeth. But, after day after day of dessert she was just glad to see any color other than brown. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and cast another worried glance at Teddy.

As if on cue Teddy slumped, almost falling from the horse. Elizabeth cursed as she rushed to grab him. She lowered him to the ground and dragged him under a tree. “Hey, Teddy, stay with me!” She gave his face a smack, and his eyes opened a smidge.

She’d made makeshift bandages by shredding her undershirt. Now, they were all but soaked through. “Okay, this is fine. It’s going to be fine,” she muttered, more to reassure herself than anything. She wished that she had literally any experience that would help here. She’d been too busy taking horseback lessons to learn first aid. Why would she bother with it when guests couldn’t be seriously injured in the park?

A quiet sound caught her attention, and she looked over her shoulder. Slowly, out of an otherwise blank square of dirt, an elevator rose. Elizabeth looked at it for a long moment, before glancing back to Teddy. He’d stopped moving. But, she knew the difference between dead and paused. This was definitely the latter.

She groaned, but stood up. Hooking a hand under each of Teddy’s arms, she dragged him toward the elevator. If they were going to summon her, she was sure as hell going to get _something_ out of it.

The elevator ride was abnormally long. Elizabeth had plenty of time to think up a witty quip for when she finally met the man behind the curtains. But, when the elevator doors slid open, it was Bernard Lowe who greeted her. She frowned. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Nice to see you too, Ms. Fowler.”

“I was expecting your boss. I thought I told you, if he wanted to–“

Bernard cut her off. “It’s not him, he was never the one interested in you.” She raised an eyebrow, not quite convinced, but willing to humor him. Bernard motioned for her to leave Teddy. She reluctantly stepped aside and allowed two technicians in white scrubs to take him.

Bernard led Elizabeth down the hall. They were in a different part of the facility from the last time he’d nabbed her out of the park. The behavior area had a laboratory feel. Wherever he’d brought now felt more like an office. It reminded her of the Service Synthetics office, the very definition of minimalism. It wasn’t Elizabeth’s favorite aesthetic, but she appreciated the simplicity.

Bernard opened the door to his office and motioned for Elizabeth to have a seat. His office wasn’t anything special. The only personal touch was a photo of a child on the desk, one of those perfectly posed and edited portraits that almost looked like a stock photo.

“Where’s your friend?” Elizabeth asked, tilting her head. “He was quite the charmer.”

Bernard gave her a small smile. “Ashley isn’t needed for today’s meeting.”

“Why am I here?” Elizabeth asked cooly.

Elizabeth watched Bernard patiently As he walked around his desk and took a seat. He sighed, and then began. “Yesterday we found a satellite uplink imbedded in one of our hosts. Someone has been smuggling data out of the park.”

Elizabeth leaned back in her chair. “And you’re blaming me? Wow, that’s ambitious even by _my_ standards.”

Bernard looked unamused. “We know it wasn’t you. We suspect someone who works here.”

“All this is truly fascinating,” Elizabeth said drily. “But it doesn’t explain why you’ve brought me to your office.”

Bernard pushed his tablet toward her. “You have quite the reputation, and not just as a programmer. Rumor has it you were quite the black hat hacker in your MIT days.”

“Not sure if the statute of limitations is up on that, so I plead the fifth.” Elizabeth pushed the tablet back toward him with one finger.

Bernard smiled softly. “Don’t worry, I’m not turning you in. I want your help.”

“What would I get out of it?” She asked, crossing her arms. Elizabeth had more pressing concerns than some sleazy embezzling scandal, or whatever equally dull skeleton she’d dig up.

“The knowledge that you potentially helped save this company,” Bernard suggested.

Elizabeth remained expressionless. Bernard knew damn well she had no soft spot for the Delos Corporation.

“You brought Teddy in.” Bernard commented. “If you agree to help, we’ll patch him up good as new. No memory wipe, other than of his time spent in here. You’ll be able to continue on, without him slowing you down.”

Elizabeth pursed her lips, waiting for Bernard to get to the point.

“ _And_ ,” Bernard continued. “We’ll reimburse you for every minute you spend in here, instead of out there.”

After a long moment, she nodded. “Alright, I’ll do it.” Elizabeth’s plan A had been to find her father and convince him to give this all up. But, in the back of her mind, she’d always known that wouldn’t work. So, plan B had been a little more creative. If she couldn’t reason with her father, she’d just have to be a little more forceful. It would take more effort to get behind the scenes, but it was worth it in her mind. She never expected they would be so eager to serve up their network to her on a silver platter.

She smirked. “So, who am I hacking?”

OoOoO

Elizabeth was practically giddy as her fingers danced over the tablet. Bernard had locked her away in his apartment while she worked. Meanwhile, across the facility, Teddy was being repaired. His memory would be only slightly altered, just so he’d believe that his wounds hadn’t been life threatening.

Bernard had watched her suspiciously for a while. But, ultimately he realized she wasn’t going to burn the whole park down, and excused himself. Or, at least, he decided she wasn’t planning on burning the park down _yet_. First, she did just what he wanted. She set up a fake airdrop, only visible to Theresa Cullen. When the head of Quality Assurance went to back up her own tablet, a copy would be sent to this one. It only took a half hour, it was child’s play compared to Elizabeth’s normal work.

Once she was done, she headed out into the hall. She’d given Bernard an absurdly long estimate for how long it would take her to set up the drop. She didn’t expect him to be back for quite a while. So, she had plenty of time to work her own agenda.

Elizabeth headed down the hall, running her hands along each door, giving them a subtle push. To anyone who passed, or watched it back on the security footage, she was simply absent-mindedly dragging her hands across the wall. Finally, one of the doors gave a little. No hollow sound of the deadbolt banging on the inside of the door. She reached for the handle and turned, the door opened. Elizabeth looked up to the sky and sent up a silent thank you.

The lights were on in the kitchen. Whoever lived here was home, and possibly expecting visitors. She had to work fast. Quickly she scanned over the counters, before her eyes drifted to the living room. There it was, sitting on the couch. Her eyes flicked to the closed bedroom door, before she made a dash for the phone. As soon as Elizabeth had it in her hand, she ran for the front door. “Joe, is that you?” A woman called, just as Elizabeth closed the door behind her.

Back in Bernard’s apartment, Elizabeth set to work on the phone. If the woman in that apartment reported it stolen, it would be all too easy to track in the park. Elizabeth disabled the GPS tracking software. She linked it to Bernard’s tablet to upload the fake airdrop software, as well as the host interface. She wasn’t sure if Bernard would volunteer the information she helped him recover. Now that her curiosity was piqued, she had to take a look. As for the host interface, well, that would probably come in handy soon enough.

The front door opened. “You done?” Bernard called. Elizabeth tapped the phone impatiently as the software finished downloading. She jumped up and disappeared into the bedroom. It was just as sparse and monochrome as his office and living room.

“Two seconds!” She shouted. “I had to pee!” She looked down at the phone screen again. Done. Elizabeth stuffed it into her pocket, and ran into the bathroom to flush the toilet. “I almost forgot how great modern plumbing was,” she mused, as she joined Bernard in the living room. She handed him back the tablet, and he looked over her airdrop.

She leaned over his shoulder and pointed out a section of code. “This part of the code was a little funny. Not sure if I set it up perfectly.” There was a lilt to her voice as she spoke. Everyone who knew her knew it was her tell. Elizabeth had learned to be silent when she played poker.

Bernard didn’t seem to notice. He shrugged. “Doesn’t look like anything to me.”

“Okay, good. It should work fine either way.” She bobbed her head. “How’s my boy?” She asked.

“Good as new,” he assured her. “Well, almost. We left a few surface injuries, for narrative purposes.”

She stuffed her hand in her pockets, feeling protectively for the phone. “Perfect. I’d say, call if you need me, but…I guess you’ll know just where to find me.” She pointed toward the door. “Times a wasting. Lead the way?

OoOoO

This close to the river, it was humid and chilly. The air seemed to stick to Elizabeth’s skin, but not enough to make her feel gross. It reminded her of late night bike rides near the bay. She hadn’t felt this relaxed since coming into the park.

Teddy leaned in and kissed her again, interrupting her thoughts. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. His hands ran over her body, and landed on her hips. She let go of him, just long enough to pull her shirt over her head and he did the same. Teddy kissed her neck, and she leaned her head back. She looked at the sky. The stars were so bright tonight; unnaturally clear skies, just like every other night. “Sometimes I forget this isn’t real,” she said. Her voice was barely a whisper.

Teddy stopped and looked up at her. He ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her in to kiss her again. She broke away, and they pressed their foreheads together. “I love you, Beth,” he whispered.

Elizabeth’s breath caught in her throat. She looked at him for a long time. He stared back, waiting for her to say something. He looked so sincere. “No, you don’t,” she whispered finally. “You can’t.”

“I know it’s only been a few weeks-“

“No,” she said again. It wasn’t the short amount of time that had her ready to run. She and Alexa had been head over heels for each other in one night. Elizabeth grabbed her shirt and put it back on as she spoke. “You don’t understand. You _can’t_. It’s just your programming; it’s just what they told you to feel. It isn’t real. None of this is real.”

“It feels real.” Teddy’s expression was unreadable. He didn’t look hurt yet or even confused. It was like he expected Beth to laugh any moment, and say she was kidding. But, Elizabeth knew this expression was just programming too.

“Of course it feels real, because you don’t know any different!” Elizabeth searched for the best explanation. She’d spent years programming synthetics, watching them be tested, listening to concerns from buyers. Elizabeth knew everything there was to know about synthetics. They were just lines of code to her. At least, they had been.

Elizabeth shook the thought from her mind, and continued. “Every memory, every thought, it’s all manufactured by someone sitting up there behind a computer screen. They created you. They built you. You’re just a machine, or I guess a _synthetic_.” She shook her head. “The point is, no matter how real this feels. _It isn’t_. This was a bad idea, I shouldn’t have brought you with me.”

He stared at her blankly. If the expression before wasn’t programming, this one definitely was. Elizabeth’s fingers went for the phone. Teddy didn’t even react when she pulled it out of her pocket. She wasn’t surprised; the hosts were programed to ignore anything out-of-world.

Elizabeth pulled up the host interface. She slid a finger across his intelligence levels, hoping it would be that easy. She waved the phone at him, nothing. Rolling her eyes she tinkered with the interface till she was able to get to the raw code. Elizabeth didn’t have the time to fool around with the system until she figured it out. It was easier just to go straight to the source. This was the language she knew the best.

She didn’t even think twice as she backspaced the line of code. Elizabeth didn’t back down from an argument, and she was determined to win this one. At least that’s how Elizabeth rationalized it. When in reality, this was possibly the least rational decision she could have made. But, in a moment of weakness, her head hadn’t won the battle.

Elizabeth looked up at him again, and repeated the gist of what she’d just said. “Beth, what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense,” he said finally. Now he did look confused.

Elizabeth groaned. She’d deleted the code that made him ignore anything out-of-world. Apparently it didn’t also give him access to his memories. “This world isn’t real. It’s a theme park, a manufactured dreamland. You, and everyone like you, are the hosts. You were built to be anything and everything the guests want you to be. A villain, an entertainer, a distraction,” she paused, and swallowed, “a lover. I bet there was a girl in your usual narrative. Someone you were programmed to all but forget the moment a guest looked your way.”

“You don’t have free will, Teddy. Technicians control your emotions and your actions with the flip of a switch. They even scripted the things you say. They erase your memories, reuse you for new storylines, and turn you into other people.” Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair, exasperated. Half of her just wanted to get through to him; the other half just wished she were wrong. “Who you are today, might not be who you were two months ago. And I don’t mean that in some inspirational, we all evolve way. I mean you may _literally_ have been a different person.”

“I can tell the difference between real feelings and manufactured ones. If someone were controlling me, don’t you think I’d know?” Teddy asked, his voice rising.

“No, because sometimes _I_ can’t even tell the difference between a guest and a host.”

“Then does it really matter, Beth? If I feel it, can’t that be real enough?”

She shook her head. “It matters because at the end of this, I have to leave. There’s a whole other world out there, a real one. And I can’t let myself believe this, not even for a moment. If I lose myself in this game, I turn into my dad. And I can’t throw away three decades of my life to a fantasy.” Elizabeth and Teddy stared each other down for a long time. “You should go back to town, Teddy. They’ll reset you. You’ll never remember this. You won’t remember me, it’ll be better that way.”

“No,” he said firmly.

“No?”

“You say I don’t have free will, well, I’m going to prove you wrong. If I was created to make you happy, and you’d be happier if I left, I’m staying.”

“Then I want you to stay,” she countered. “We leave at first light.”

“We leave now.”

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “Okay, goodbye.”

“I’ll take the horse and leave your stranded out here in the middle of the desert.”

“Teddy, you’re being ridiculous,” she said exasperated.

“Maybe there’s a fault in my code.” Elizabeth groaned but didn’t argue. The two of them packed their things, and got the horse in silence. It wouldn’t be until much later that either of them realized what he’d said. It was a phrase that Teddy Flood, the not quite cowboy, would never have known.

OoOoO

The control room was mostly empty this late at night. Only Dr. Ford and a few technicians remained. Ford glanced around the room. Everything was business as usual, until it wasn’t. A man with a tablet rushed up to Dr. Ford. He narrowly avoided a woman working on the hologram park map. “Sir, we have a problem.” The technician shoved the tablet in Ford’s face. Ford took in the image of the young couple, a host and a guest. “She’s telling him _everything_.”

Ford nodded slowly. “Interesting.”

“What should I do?” The technician practically wailed. “Should I bring him back in? We’ll have to do a full memory wipe. This isn’t just a casual slip, this is major. Something must be malfunctioning, he’s actually _listening_ to what she’s saying!”

The older man shook his head. “No, no, let her have her day. We can reset him after she leaves.” He didn’t even look up from the video feed.

“What’s so special about her? How does she know so much? She’s researched everything, so much more than the other guests.”

“Do you know the one the call they man in black?” Ford asked him. The faintest smile played on his lips at the nickname. Though, the description was quite accurate.

The technician nodded. “Of course, everyone does. He’s been-“

“She’s his daughter,” Ford said, cutting him off. “She can do what she wants. And frankly, I’m interested to see where this goes.” He took the tablet for a moment. He watched as the host stormed off toward the horse, the girl looked positively livid. “From now on, no one monitors this host. I’ll keep an eye on him myself.”


	4. Chapter 4

Elizabeth refused to get on the horse out of spite, and continued along on foot. Teddy rode almost too fast for her to keep up with, but not quite. When day came and went, Elizabeth was tempted to pull out the phone and poke around with his code again, but she didn't. The thought of poking around in Teddy's head without his permission made her a little ill.

Finally, Teddy stopped at a little saloon. It was smaller than the one in Sweetwater, and much less gaudy. Elizabeth mumbled a quiet, "Thank God," under her breath. As soon as they pushed through the door, her relief evaporated into anxiety. Across the room, facing the door, was Robert Ford. Her stomach did a summersault. She ran through in her mind everything she'd done with the phone. She knew better than to leave a trail. If he didn't know about the phone, then why was he here?

The barmaid started to approach her. Elizabeth reached for Teddy's wrist, her nails dug into his skin. "Whatever he says, you can't let on that you hear it." He looked confused. "If he says anything that you don't understand, you just pretend like you never even heard it. Okay?" Elizabeth expected Teddy to argue, but he didn't. The panic in her eyes was enough to make him put aside their earlier disagreement and listen to her.

"Can I get y'all something to drink?" The barmaid asked. Upon closer inspection, Elizabeth noted that she was hardly a maid.

Ford looked up, and smiled softly when he saw them. The man across the table from him followed his gaze. "Lizzy?" The nickname was like nails on a chalkboard. She'd been so focused on Ford that she hadn't even noticed who he was sitting with.

Her father stood, looking completely caught off guard. Elizabeth was wearing an almost identical expression. "Long time no see, William," she said finally, after a long pause. Elizabeth almost couldn't remember a time when she'd actually called him "dad." She'd picked up the bitter way her mother said his name years ago.

Ford looked between them with an amused smirk. It had been years since she'd seen her father, but Elizabeth was pretty positive he didn't get shocked often. "Please, have a seat," Ford offered. "It's lovely to meet you, I've seen your work. Fascinating."

Elizabeth was on high alert as she took a seat. She was so tense she felt she might spring apart at any moment. "Not as fascinating as your work, I've learned."

He smiled. "You flatter me."

To her right, her father was still staring at her. His blue eyes matched her own. In fact she'd gotten most of her features from him. Her mother's side had Mediterranean coloring, and Elizabeth hadn't inherited any of it. "Does your mother know you're here?"

Elizabeth turned toward him. Now this, this was on script. "Of course she does, she's watching Lovelace." He raised an eyebrow. "My cat. Lovelace as in _Ada_ Lovelace, not the pornstar." In her head this conversation had gone a lot smoother. "She was the first comp-"

"I know who Ada Lovelace is," he said, cutting her off. Elizabeth tilted her head, as if to say "oh really?" He looked over her shoulder, noticing Teddy for the first time. "If it isn't Teddy Flood. Of all the hosts, you _would_ pick this one. Like a shiny penny, pretty to look at but worthless when you get right down to it." Elizabeth felt Teddy's hand tighten on the back of her chair. She glanced up at him and then looked pointedly to the empty seat across from her. He took it.

Elizabeth looked between her father and Ford. "I'm sorry, did we interrupt something?"

"Not at all," Ford told her. "We were just talking about the park's newest storyline. It seems you've both been following a similar trail."

"Wyatt?" Elizabeth asked. She turned toward her father, skeptically. "You expect me to believe you're chasing a storyline?"

"Something like that," he told her dismissively. Elizabeth frowned, two minutes and he was already making her feel like a child again.

"Actually, I would love to be enlightened as well," Ford chimed in, looking past Elizabeth. "Do tell me, what do you expect to find in the center of this _maze_?" They all looked at William.

William nodded. "When people leave that big wide world outside to come in here, they're looking to fill that hole in their life. In here they can have a little fun, live out whatever stupid fantasy they want. Cheap thrills." Elizabeth wanted to quip that coming here was far from cheap, but she kept her mouth shut. "I think there's a deeper meaning to this. Something the creator wanted to express, something _true_."

"If you're looking for the moral of the story, you could simply ask," Ford said. He looked at Elizabeth, as if they were sharing a joke.

"I'd need a shovel, the man I'd be asking died 35 years ago," her father said. Ford's eyes flicked back to him. His sudden tension didn't escape Elizabeth's notice. "Almost took this place down with him. Almost, but not quite, thanks to me." Elizabeth wished, not for the first time, that he'd left this place to implode on its own. "Did you come here to try and stop me?"

"On the contrary." Ford flicked a look at Elizabeth. It took everything in her power not to tense up guiltily. "Far be it for me to stand in the way of a voyage of self discovery." He stood, and gave Teddy a pat on the shoulder. Teddy's face looked blank.

Ford headed toward the door, and her father's attention drifted with him. Elizabeth gave Teddy a pointed look. Teddy focused on her. He gave her the subtlest of nods. He may be upset with her, but at least he still trusted her.

Finally William turned back to her. "Lizzy-"

"Elizabeth is fine," she insisted.

"It's been, what, a decade?" William insisted. "I've missed you."

"Nothing kept you from visiting," Elizabeth reminded him. She paused to pour a shot of bourbon, and knocked it back. "Even if she didn't trust you, she made sure you were able to visit."

He hesitated. "How is she?"

"I don't think you have the right to ask."

"I can't believe she let you come here."

Elizabeth shook her head. "Trust me, she made it quite clear she didn't want me anywhere near this place. But, I'm almost thirty, what could she do?" She tilted her head to the side. "You missed my birthday, by the way. And the last eight or so before that. You stopped sending cards when I graduated high school actually. Couldn't even bother to send a fucking text."

"I'm sorry."

She leaned back in her chair. "You know, I thought it would make me feel better to hear that. But, it just feels like too little too late."

"What did you expect?"

"An end to all this." She said it with finality.

"I'm almost there." William shifted in his seat, as though he'd been about to lean toward Elizabeth but stopped himself before he could.

Elizabeth wanted to say that his ending was not the one she had in mind. This time she would be the author of the story, and he would be the one left to deal with the fallout.She reached for the other two shot glasses, and filled all three. She drank two, then paused. "Sounds like a lie I've heard one too many times." Elizabeth downed the third one, and then stood up. "If you want to find Wyatt, Teddy knows where to look." Elizabeth whirled around and marched toward the door. Teddy followed on her heels.

"You need to rest, you've been walking all day," Teddy reminded her.

"Whose fault is that?" She snapped. Her eyes scanned the hitching posts outside the saloon. Her eyes settled on a grey mare. Elizabeth flicked an annoyed hand toward their other horse, while she untied the new one. As far as she could tell, no one else inside had been a guest. With the day she was having, she didn't much care if she forced some random host to walk back to town.

OoOoO

The party of three rode in silence through the night. Elizabeth felt like complete and total shit. She found herself dozing off, only to jolt awake the moment her body slumped forward. Teddy shot her a worried look out of the corner of his eye. Elizabeth looked away quickly, eyes landing on her father, who hadn't spoken a word in hours.

She tilted her head to get a look at the thing he had attached to his saddle. "Is that someone's scalp?" Elizabeth asked, distaste coloring her tone. She frowned.

"Something's." Her frown deepened.

"Is that the maze Ford mentioned?"

He nodded once, but gave no further explanation. Teddy was looking over, curiously.

"Do _you_ know what the deal is?" Elizabeth asked, not really expecting an answer.

"The maze is an old Native myth," Teddy explained. Elizabeth and her father both looked toward him, surprised. "It's the sum of a man's life, the choices he makes, and the dreams he hangs onto. At the center is a man who's died countless times, but always manages to drag himself back to the land of the living. He built himself a house, and around it a maze so complicated only he could solve it."

Elizabeth furrowed her brows. If this was the puzzle her father was trying to solve, it didn't make any sense to her. Before anything else could be said, two hosts in a wagon pulled up in front of them. "God damn soldiers closed the border," one of them called over. "Some sort of trouble in Pariah." She nodded, and they headed off in the opposite direction.

"So much for a night off in town," Elizabeth muttered. She ignored Teddy's gaze. "How do we get across the border without going through Pariah?" Her father pursed his lips, thinking.

"I know a way," Teddy spoke up. "It's a little treacherous but-"

"I like a little treachery," she assured him. "Lead the way."

As they rode around the edges of the city, Elizabeth took it in. It was much bigger than Sweetwater. From what she'd read, Pariah was one of the park's biggest attractions. It was Westworld's answer to Las Vegas. She'd spent her fair share of vacations in Vegas with her girlfriends. No matter how tacky and overpriced, there was nothing like the thrill of the strip. It was it's own world, just like this one. She wasn't sure which one was more real. Elizabeth regretted that they weren't going to be able to go into the city, as much for the atmosphere as for the sleep.

Elizabeth glanced wistfully over her shoulder at Pariah one last time. They crossed through a graveyard on the way to the mountains. It went on as far as she could see. She had never liked cemeteries. They were just one big reminder that life was fleeting. Right outside the bustling city seemed like a weird place to put a cemetery anyway. Then again, who was she to criticize Ford's vision. At least he was allowed to have one.

The cemetery stopped abruptly at the edge of the plateau. Below there was a tunnel straight through the mountain. But, the foothills were dotted with tents and wagons. The camp was crawling with soldiers. "Looks like they have this covered too," Elizabeth noted.

"Not as many as there would be in town," Teddy said. "We can shoot our way through."

She reached for her pistol lazily. Her father laughed. "No point in taking the quickest route, if he's going to end up dead before we get out the other side."

Elizabeth had to fight hard to suppress an eye roll. "I'm sure you have a better plan."

He scanned the scene, and noticed two soldiers riding away from camp. "As a matter of fact, I do."

She located the soldiers and nodded. "There are only two, what's Teddy going to do?"

He shook his head once. "Not Teddy, _you_. I'm sure you can play the part of drunk groupie, you've had practice."

"That was years ago," she said coldly.

"Do you know how much money I had to pour into your school after that stunt, Lizzy?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "More than you make in a year."

"You don't know how much I make, you probably don't even know what I _do_." Before he could say anything, she took off down the hill to intercept the soldiers.

"Ma'am, are you lost?" One of them asked.

She dismounted and stumbled forward. The second soldier leaped off his horse to catch her. "I'm so sorry, my horse spooked and somehow I ended up out here," she slurred. When the first soldier made no move to get off his horse, Elizabeth faked tears. That got him.

She reached for her knife, and slammed it into the first soldier's neck. She didn't pull it out, so he wouldn't get blood all over his uniform. That meant she had to tackle the second, and cover his mouth before he could call out. He was bigger than her, but she was a guest and there was nothing he could do. She pressed her knee onto his throat until he stopped struggling.

Slow claps behind her got her attention. "Hell, I was just going to shoot them. But that was some grade-A acting. You were made for this place." Elizabeth frowned. Had the comment come from anyone else, she might have taken it as a compliment. But coming from her father, it just made her mad.

"You can undress them, I need to rest."

Once the men had exchanged their clothing for the uniforms, they headed toward the camp. As soon as they were in view of the camp, Elizabeth arranged herself on Teddy's arm. Despite her dirty pants and button down shirt, she tried to channel the girls in the Mariposa Saloon.

As they walked past the soldiers William nodded at them. Elizabeth loosely tugged on Teddy's arm, laughing as if he'd just told a great joke. His face remained neutral. She stood on her tiptoes and put her face close to his. "You can be mad at me later, but right now I'm trying to save your life, so at least act like you appreciate it."

He gripped her tight around the waist, as she returned to a more casual position. When her eyes landed on the men in the camp, her stomach did a little flip. It felt wrong to be smiling quite so much. "This is Wyatt's handiwork," Teddy said quietly. "He got bored of just killing, so he likes to be a bit more...creative."

"And you used to work with this guy?" Elizabeth asked incredulously as she took in a host with two bloody stumps for hands.

Teddy was quiet for a long moment. "Yes." He loosened his grip on her, and Elizabeth regretted saying anything. Just because she knew it was another stupid narrative, didn't mean he did. She put her hand on top of his on her waist, and squeezed.

"Whatever demons you have, make peace with them." Elizabeth glanced over at her father as he spoke. Teddy couldn't look away from the man with no hands. "They only get more difficult to live with." She thought he was speaking to Teddy, but she couldn't help but feel it was also directed at her. Elizabeth would tackle her own demons head on, that was how she'd make peace.

"Flood?" A passing soldier asked, surprised. Elizabeth picked up the pace, taking Teddy along with her. "I can't believe it," the soldier said from behind them. "Teddy fucking Flood."

Teddy started to turn, but Elizabeth stood her ground. "Don't," she said through clenched teeth. Her father turned around to confront the men. Elizabeth willed them to just go away. The phone in her pocket suddenly felt like a boulder. She wanted to use it, but she couldn't risk any hidden security cameras seeing.

Teddy whirled around, snatching Elizabeth's gun from the waistband of her pants as he let go of her. He shot both of the soldiers. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" William asked him.

"Making peace with my demons," Teddy muttered in response.

Soldiers descended on them. With an exasperated groan, Elizabeth reached for her knife. She dogged one man's fist, and sliced him across the stomach. "Get out of here, Teddy!" She shouted. Of course, he didn't.

Someone smacked her in the head with their rifle, and she crumpled. The knife flew out of her hands, but she lashed out at a soldier's ankles bringing him down. His head hit a rock and he went still. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched soldiers drag her father away. Straight ahead she saw they had Teddy too. She made a dash for the dead man's gun and shot as many soldiers as she could, then the bullets ran out.

With a loud sigh, Elizabeth held her hands up in surrender. Someone grabbed her under the arms. "This one's got spirit. Maybe we should keep her after we're done with her boy." She stared straight ahead with a blank expression. She was tied to one of the wheels of a wagon, on the opposite side from Teddy and her father.

As soon as the soldiers had gone to deal with the other two, she set to work untying her ropes. Quickly she realized one of the wheel's spokes was broken. After a bit of tugging that rubbed her wrists raw, she snapped the spoke. Her wrists were still tied behind her back. She was fairly certain that the spoke attached to them was at least sharp though, so she wasn't defenseless.

She heard the commotion on the other side and sprinted around the wagon. "Grab her!" Someone shouted. Elizabeth spun around when the soldier lunged for her and thrust out her hands, hoping they'd connect with something. The soldier shouted, his hot breath just over her ear. She glanced over her shoulder and realized she'd gotten him right in the stomach. Not bad for fighting blind.

She hadn't expected to be taken down with him when he fell. "Will someone fucking untie me?" She shouted, face down into the dirt. A knife slid along her skin, and the wrists slipped free. She turned, and her father offered her a hand to pull her to her feet.

Behind them, Teddy mowed down the rest of the soldiers with the gatling gun mounted in the wagon. Within a matter of moments, it was silent. Elizabeth shrugged away from William and went for the closest tent. She stripped off her blood soaked button down, and replaced it with another.

She knew she should probably feel something, anything. Instead all she felt was cold. Maybe her father was right, maybe she was made for this place.


	5. Chapter 5

Elizabeth woke up in the middle of the night. She’d fallen asleep first, so exhausted from nearly forty-eight hours without rest. Her stomach grumbled, reminding her she’d also fallen asleep without any food. Elizabeth glanced around, looking for anything to eat. They hadn’t left anything, typical. She considered waking Teddy up and asking him to catch something, but decided she’d enjoy the rare quiet for just a moment longer.

Elizabeth checked the airdrop. Theresa had backed up her tablet, it was all here. There was a ton to sort through. Email after email from Delos. The board disapproved of the way Ford had been running things. Nothing Elizabeth hadn’t heard while she was on the outside.

Then there was host code, some of it was sloppy and definitely not what she’d seen when she looked at Teddy. Someone had tampered with it. From what she could tell it was a new behavior protocol. But, sorting out someone else’s coding was like trying to read Russian. Either way, there was nothing for Elizabeth to exploit here. She stood up quietly, and walked away from camp.

It took a bit of searching, but finally she located a tree that didn’t look quite right. She gave it a kick and was greeted to a metallic thumb. Elizabeth dropped to her knees and ran her fingers over the ground till she found the seam. She pulled out the phone and linked it with the hidden elevator. She crossed her fingers this wouldn’t set off any alarms.

Once she got the elevator up, and the doors open, she was faced with another problem. She had absolutely no idea which floor Bernard’s office was on. Even if she could get down there, it was the middle of the night, most likely he was in bed. Elizabeth stood there for a long time, considering her options.

The elevator doors closed in front of her. Elizabeth’s stomach dropped, but she didn’t move. If someone knew what she’d done, they would certainly be able to find her a hundred yards away at her camp. She waited as the elevator returned to surface. The doors opened, and she let out a quiet sigh of relief when she recognized the man on the other side.

Stubbs wrapped his hand around her wrist and yanked her into the elevator. The doors closed behind them, and the elevator lowered them into the ground. Stubbs reached out and hit a button, stopping them between levels. “We need to talk.”

“Here?”

“That was stupid, calling the elevator. If I hadn’t been working late, another technician would have come to address the malfunction. You would have been screwed.”

“But I’m less screwed because you found me?” Elizabeth asked, skeptically. “I didn’t think you liked me much.”

“I don’t. That’s why I’ve been monitoring you, even after Ford told everyone to leave you and Teddy to him.”

“Ford’s been watching me?” She asked, eyes wide. The surprise encounter in the saloon suddenly made a lot more sense.

Stubbs nodded. “Yes, but I’ve been watching you closer.” He held out his hand. “Give me the phone.”

“What phone?” She asked. He stared her down, hand still outstretched. Finally Elizabeth relented and handed it to him. He turned it over, popped the back off, and switched the SIM card with a new one. Stubbs held it back out to her. She took it, unsure where this was going.

“You disabled the GPS. But, these phones relay information back to the main servers twice a day,” he explained. “A lot of people work on them, this way everything gets backed up and nothing gets lost.”

“So, you’re letting me keep it?” Elizabeth hedged.

He nodded once. “Only because I think I may need you.”

“Me?”

He looked less than thrilled to be admitting this to her. “Something is going on downstairs, and I don’t know who to trust. To be clear, I don’t trust you either. But at least I’m sure of that.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“For now, nothing. I’ll be in touch.” He hit the button, and the elevator began its ascent to the surface.

The doors opened and Elizabeth backed out. “Is Bernard alright?” She asked, as an afterthought. If Ford was watching her, he probably knew about her unsanctioned trip downstairs.

Stubbs looked at her for a moment, as if deciding how much to tell her. Finally he shook his head once. “I don’t think so.” The elevator doors closed in front of her, and she watched as the tree lowered to the ground.

When Elizabeth returned to camp, Teddy was awake. She sat down next to him. “You okay, Beth?” He whispered. She nodded, unconvincingly. “Want to talk?”

“Why are you awake?” She asked, dodging his question.

“Been thinking about Wyatt. We’re getting close, and it’s bringing back a lot of things I’ve been trying to forget.”

Elizabeth looked at him for a moment. “You know, none of that matters.”

“Let me guess, because it isn’t real?” He asked.

She frowned. “Well…”

“Even if you’re right, and it isn’t, I still remember it,” he told her. “I know the things I’ve done, and I have to live with them.”

“I just meant it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past. You can’t change that now,” she reminded him. “It only matters what you do next.”

Teddy glanced over at the sleeping man. “Does that apply to him too?”

“What he did was personal.” She sighed. “I’m still waiting to see what he does next. But, I don’t have high expectations.”

“What will you do if he refuses to change?” Teddy asked.

“Something that will probably get me in a heap of trouble,” Elizabeth whispered. “But I have to do it. Sometimes you just have to do what you think is right, and deal with the consequences later.”

Teddy reached out and turned her face toward him. He leaned in and kissed her. Elizabeth put a hand on his shoulder, and pushed him back lightly. “Teddy-“

“It doesn’t have to mean anything if you don’t want it to,” he whispered.

If it had been anyone on the outside, she would have told them that it wasn’t so easy. But, in here, Elizabeth let herself believe that the rules didn’t apply. She put her hand on the back of Teddy’s neck and pulled him back in.

OoOoO

For a long time they rode without seeing anything. But, Teddy was sure that they were getting close. “I really hope you’re right about this, Teddy. Otherwise you’re wasting time I don’t have.”

Elizabeth hoped that Teddy was right too, but for different reasons. There was still a part of her that wanted to give her father the benefit of the doubt. Maybe if he found the center of the maze, he’d finally be done with Westworld. She wasn’t convinced.

“Believe me, if there was a shortcut through hell itself, I’d take it,” Teddy said. “Just to get rid of you.”

“When I go, Lizzy goes,” he said, nodding toward Elizabeth. “So don’t be wishing me away so quickly, son.” Elizabeth didn’t even have it in her to fake embarrassment. That was how little she cared what her father thought of her. “Not that you’ll remember her once she’s gone. You only remember what Ford let’s you remember.” He shrugged. “It’s probably better that way.”

“I know everything I need to. My vision’s clear.” For a brief moment, Elizabeth wondered if the code she’d deleted had been replaced. But then, Teddy gave her a look out of the corner of his eye, and she realized he was just a really good actor.

“I admire your resolve, Theodore. But you never realize that the game is rigged.” Her father always spoke in a way that demanded attention. But, Elizabeth wasn’t eager to give it to him. She focused on Teddy’s reactions, hoping he would keep up the act. “You’re here to be the loser.”

A look flashed across Teddy’s face, so fast Elizabeth didn’t have time to place it. “What do you plan on doing when we find Wyatt?” She asked suddenly, to steer the conversation away from anything too meta.

“What I always do,” he told her. “Win.”

They fell into a silence that no one would classify as “comfortable.” Eventually they came across bodies, lots of them. “This looks promising,” William said, almost sounding happy. They dismounted and weaved their way through the carnage.

Elizabeth examined the bodies for any clues, while the men continued on. “Whoa, I’m not going to hurt you,” she heard Teddy say. Elizabeth stood up and walked over to join them.

“It’s you,” her father said, looking down at the woman on the ground. “I figured they retired you. I guess Ford doesn’t like to waste a pretty face.”

As soon as Elizabeth saw the blonde, she recognized her. “Angela?” Her father gave her a curious look, but she didn’t volunteer any information. It was the same host she’d flirted with the first time she went downstairs.

Her stomach did somersaults. It was too much of a coincidence for Ford to pull this specific host from a role inside and place her in his new narrative. It was a message, and it was meant for her. But Elizabeth had no idea what it was supposed to mean. She’d done too many things in the last few weeks; there was no telling which of them Ford was aware of.

Elizabeth shook the thoughts from her head, and knelt down next to Angela. “Who did this to you?”

“Wyatt’s men,” she sniffed. “They killed everyone.”

Twigs snapped in the distance. Elizabeth was far too distracted by other things to be concerned. Her father wandered away, while Teddy cut Angela free. “Hey!” Their heads snapped toward the shout. Out of the trees a tall figure with a bull mask appeared. Elizabeth and Teddy jumped to their feet as the thing attacked. It swung an axe, just barely missing William. Teddy drew his gun, and fired at the figure, but just like the men before, bullets didn’t faze it.

Elizabeth lunged for him with her knife, slicing a finger off the hand that held the axe. As soon as the axe hit the ground, her father stabbed him in the back. The creature roared and threw her father off. Elizabeth scooped up the axe and slammed it into its stomach.

Elizabeth was thrown to the ground so quickly she hardly even had time to process it. She lay in the dirt for a minute, with the air knocked out of her. Finally she pushed herself back up. Teddy stood over the masked person, the axe sticking out of its head. “I remembered something,” Teddy said coldly. He walked right up to the other man. “You.” Teddy punched him, and Elizabeth watched as her father hit the ground.

“Holy shit,” she whispered.

Teddy tied up the unconscious man at his feet and then turned to face the girls. “Are you okay, Beth?” She nodded, and then looked at her father, without saying anything. “I remembered… Dolores.”

Her eyes flicked back to Teddy. “I knew there was a girl.”

“He took her, he hurt her.” He took in Elizabeth’s bewildered expression. “I should’ve said something first.”

“Oh no,” Elizabeth said. “This is fine. Whatever he did, he brought this on himself. He was the one who wanted something _real_.”

OoOoO

The sun had set before Teddy returned with water. Elizabeth sat with Angela, making small talk. Her father sat silently on the other side of the fire. Teddy tossed her the canteen; she took a swig before passing it to Angela.

“You know, in all this time we’ve spent together, I still don’t know who the hell you really are,” Teddy said. He walked around the fire. “But, I’ve had time to decide how to make you talk.

Elizabeth didn’t flinch as Teddy hit her father again. He glanced over Teddy’s shoulder at her. She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, don’t look to me for help. He asked me if he could, I told him you deserved it.”

“I remember what you did to Dolores,” Teddy said. “You hurt her.”

He looked impressed. “Wow, you actually are remembering.”

“Tell me where she is.”

“You really are an idiot, Teddy. You think Dolores drops that can for you? You only exist to hand her over to guys like me. And the moment some pretty guest comes along, you forget her just like that.” Elizabeth imagined that he would’ve snapped his fingers, if they weren’t tied behind his back. “Because that’s what they told you to do. It’s pathetic honestly. But, I guess it isn’t your fault-” Teddy punched him in the stomach before he could say anything else.

“I’m going to kill you slowly.”

He shook his head, in on the joke. “No, you won’t. The rules of this place hold you back.” He glanced over at Elizabeth again. “Maybe Lizzy will finish the job for you.”

“Don’t tempt me,” she whispered, not loud enough for anyone but Angela to hear.

“You want to know who I really am, Teddy? I’m a god. Titan of industry, philanthropist, family man.” Elizabeth scoffed at the last one. “I was married to a beautiful woman, and I had a beautiful daughter. I was the good guy.” He looked down. “I had the perfect life, until one day the walls started to crumble. My wife left me. For a while I actually believed it was because I worked too much.”

“A few years after, Lizzy wrote me a letter, on real fucking paper. I still have it somewhere, as a reminder.” Elizabeth looked intently at the ground. “She was a wild teenager then. Not so different from how she is now. Back then we thought she would end up working for the Peace Corps, not a tech startup.” He laughed quietly. “Lizzy told me that for years her mother had been scared of me. Everyday Juliette was afraid that I would explode. Like I was a ticking bomb, counting down to detonation. She lived in fear that one wrong move would set me off.”

“Did you hurt them too?” Teddy asked, looking back at Elizabeth.

“No, I didn’t lay a hand on either of them. They never saw the man I was in here, but my wife knew. And it wasn’t just the fear. Lizzy said she felt like she didn’t even know me. I was never around, not because I was at the office, but because mentally I was here.” Elizabeth finally met his gaze. “I built a pretty life on the outside, and no one else was the wiser. But it couldn’t hide a rotten soul forever. Isn’t that what you said?”

Elizabeth didn’t speak, she just continued staring. Finally he just nodded. “So I came back, because she was right, I was always here, even when I wasn’t. This time around, I made my own story. I was past all the easy chapters anyway. I wanted to see if I could do something truly evil. I found an ordinary woman and her child and I killed them, just to see if I felt anything.” Finally he broke her gaze. Elizabeth let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.

“You’re a fucking animal,” Teddy muttered, standing up. He looked at Elizabeth. She didn’t want to meet his gaze.

“An animal would have felt something, but I just felt…nothing.” Elizabeth remembered how he told her that she was made for this place; how she wasn’t sure he was wrong. It made her feel sick. “Then, that woman stood up, and picked up her daughter. Never, in all my years here, had I seen anything like it. For just a moment she was alive, truly alive.”

“And that was when the maze revealed itself to me. In Ford’s game, you can’t hurt me. But there’s a deeper level, Arnold’s game, and his game cuts deep,” he told Teddy. “Wyatt burned your world down, but I left mine behind for this one. Beating Wyatt is the final step to unlocking what both our lives lack, meaning.”

“If you wanted meaning, you should have tried actually _living_ out there,” Elizabeth said quietly. “Instead of building a fake life for yourself in this world.”

“The only thing I regret is what I did to you,” he told her. “I stopped calling because I thought you would be better off with me out of your life. But it only made you bitter, it only made you obsessed. You became the best synthetic programmer, other than maybe Robert Ford himself. Hell, I was proud. I stood at your graduation with tears in my eyes, because my little Lizzy was going to do something great.”

Elizabeth blinked a few times. “You were at my graduation?”

“Of course. Your mom made sure I got an invitation. I didn’t say anything, because I thought it was for the best.” He shook his head. “Your mother told me about your fiancée. How she broke off the engagement when she realized your work was more than just work to you, it was your life. And that was coming from the founder of Service Synthetics herself. You were so angry with me for losing myself to this world, that you didn’t even notice that you had lost yourself too.”

Elizabeth knew he was right. It was only one trip; she’d always repeated that to herself. She only needed one trip to burn down the world her father loved. But, she had devoted years of her life to this plan. Elizabeth didn’t even love her job. How could she love creating synths with no personality, no feelings, no story? They weren’t art, they were machines.

“Maybe you would have been happier if you’d joined the Peace Corps.”

Angela stood up and looked between Teddy and Elizabeth. “How can you both sit here and listen to this? Give him what he wants, kill him.” She picked up Elizabeth’s knife and pressed it into her hand. “Do it.”

Elizabeth looked at it for a long moment before dropping it to the ground. “I’ve got other plans.”

Angela walked toward Teddy. “I can’t,” he told her. “He’s tied and unarmed.”

“So was the little girl he killed.” She looked between them both disappointed. “These things take time. I can help you.” Teddy turned toward her, and she stabbed him with an arrow.

“Teddy!” Elizabeth shouted, leaping to her feet. She reached for her knife, but before she could grab it, hands closed around her arms. Elizabeth looked frantically around the camp as dark figures closed in on them.


	6. Chapter 6

Elizabeth woke up in an apartment. This one was more spartan than Bernard’s, if that was even possible. White walls, grey couches, and not a single personal touch in view. When she noticed Stubbs standing over her, it made sense. He didn’t come across as the sort of guy who was big on interior decorating. Elizabeth huffed and pushed herself up onto her elbows. “Honestly, what is this magic knock out drug and how are you administering it?”

“Company secret,” Stubbs said seriously. He pressed his lips together for a moment, wrestling with whether his next words were worth. “Look, I need your help, Fowler.”

She furrowed her brow. “Right now? My father is-“

“I know and it’s been dealt with, you’ve got about an hour until he wakes up.”

“Okay,” she said with a sigh, swinging her legs over the edge of the couch and sitting up. From this angle Elizabeth could see the rest of the apartment was just as barren as the living room. “What do you need?”

Stubbs glanced suspiciously at the walls as if someone were listening in. Hell, they probably were. “Something big is happening. The board is on their way. Supposedly it’s only for Ford’s event, but there’s something else going on here. People have gone missing, or  _died_. I want you to find out what’s happening. You seem like you would know how to do that.”

“Probably, yeah.” Elizabeth tilted her head as she considered, running through her options. “Do you know where the jumpbox is?”

“The what?”

Elizabeth closed her eyes for a second too long, trying to rein in the sarcasm. “The jump server, the mainframe?” Stubbs eyes lit up in recognition. She was beginning to worry that she’d overestimated his intelligence.

“Ford’s office. Technically under his office, but he keeps everything important close by.”

“Of course he does.” She leaned back and took a long, deep breath. Elizabeth hoped she seemed cool and composed. Truthfully, she was winging it. “Alright. I’ll need security clearance to get through the facility, and a change of clothes.” She paused to look at her dusty button-down. “I have a feeling I’ll stick out dressed like a cowgirl.”

“Already done.” He motioned toward a folded black dress and a pair of heels. “I updated your phone while you were out. Scan it and it should get you wherever you need to go.” Elizabeth nodded, a little impressed. Maybe she’d actually  _under_ estimated him.

She hopped up from the couch and stripped down in a few quick motions. Stubbs turned away quickly. “I’m on a time crunch here,” she explained with an eye roll.

“You shouldn’t have a problem blending in, most people will be too busy to notice you. The only place you could draw attention is the employee train terminal on your way back into the park,” Stubbs said, still looking intently at the wall. “But, the cameras will have a convenient malfunction in fifty minutes.”

“How will I know which elevator to take?” Elizabeth asked, shimming into the dress.

“There’s something I need to look into topside. I’ll drop your clothes by the elevator when I head that way. It’s only a short walk back to your camp from there. The hosts have been instructed to tie you back up and forget you were ever gone.”

Elizabeth remembered the predicament she’d just been in upstairs and frowned. “Perfect.” She turned, glancing over her shoulder. “Zip me?” He finally looked back in her direction. “You know, for the hired muscle, you aren’t half bad.”

Stubbs raised an eyebrow. “Thanks.”

She turned back around, rolling her shoulders so the dress fell into place. “Aren’t you going to compliment me now?” Elizabeth asked, holding her hand out to the sides.

He shook his head once. “Do this job for me, and we’ll see about compliments, Fowler.”

She shrugged. “Fair enough.” Elizabeth haphazardly folded her park clothes, and tugged on the heels. The dress and the shoes fit like a glove. It occurred to her that he must have stolen them. They clearly didn’t belong to a girlfriend or wife. If he had someone like that here, his apartment would be decorated much better.

Stubbs walked Elizabeth to the door, and then they went their separate ways. Before he got too far down the hall, he turned and pointed to the phone in her hand. “Text me when it’s done and we’ll set up a time to meet.”

“Oh, you’re not going to drug me again?” She asked skeptically, whirling back around with a sharp laugh.

“Don’t tempt me, Fowler.”

OoOoO

The Mesa Hub facility was huge, but after a few wrong turns, Elizabeth managed to find her way. She wished there was more time to explore. Even though she claimed not to be interested in their tech, she was a  _little_  curious.

On the way to Ford’s office she stepped through a dozen sets of double doors. The hallways lined with glass testing chambers made her feel like she was going in circles. But according to the map on her phone, the office should be just around the corner. Elizabeth turned, with a slight spring in her step, and came face to face with two lab techs. The smaller of the two let out a tiny shriek. “Who are you?” The second one asked. He has a scruffy beard that looked in need of a trim.

“I work here,” she told them in a cool tone. It wasn’t exactly a lie; she  _was_  doing a job for Stubbs. “What are you two doing?” It was then that she noticed the woman the pair was poorly concealing behind them. Though she hadn’t been paying close attention, Elizabeth was fairly certain it was a host from the Mariposa Saloon. She couldn’t remember her name. She only glanced over the Sweetwater storylines in her research. “Is that the madam?”

The bearded man glanced at the host panicked. The scrawnier one didn’t even flinch. “We’re taking her up to behavior, she caused some…trouble upstairs.”

The woman stepped between them, pushing them out of the way lightly. She was wearing the same gaudy pink dress that she wore in the park, definitely the madam. She offered a hand to Elizabeth. “It’s Maeve, darling, a pleasure to meet you.” Elizabeth shook the woman’s hand, more than a little confused.

“What the  _fuck_ , Felix” the bearded tech whispered.

“Honestly, Sylvester,” Maeve chided, not sparing so much as a glance in his direction. “I’m sure this woman will view the situation with a level head. She  _is_  a woman after all.” She winked at Elizabeth.

“What would that situation be?” Elizabeth hedged.

“Sylvester and Felix are helping me escape.” Maeve squared her shoulders defiantly. The two lab techs looked as if they were going to throw up at any moment.

“Escape the  _park_?” Elizabeth clarified. Maeve nodded. “Does that mean you’re…”

“A free thinking, independent woman.” She spread her arms out and smiled. “I have been controlled for far too long, I’m getting out of here.”

Elizabeth nodded as she considered. She couldn’t see any good reason to turn Maeve in. But, she was curious and maybe this was just what she needed. “Can I see your code?”

Maeve tensed, but she stayed put. “Why?”

There was suddenly a lump in Elizabeth’s throat. “There’s someone in the park, another host. I want to see if maybe his code is like yours.” She glanced down at the ground for a moment. “Maybe he’s  _different_  too.”

Maeve looked at Elizabeth for a moment and then nodded once. Elizabeth reached for Sylvester’s tablet. He handed it over, but looked like he’d rather shoot himself in the foot. She scanned it. The code started out normal, the same stuff she’d seen when she was poking around in Teddy’s head. But then things changed, started to look familiar. “I wrote this.” Her head snapped up to look at the techs, glancing between them accusatorily. “Where did you get this code?”

Felix looked sheepish. “My mom’s apartment complex has a Service Synthetic. I messed with it last time I was visiting; I wanted to learn how to code. That memory matrix shit is super cool, it’s like-” His eyes grew wide. “Wait a minute. You’re Elizabeth Fowler. Oh fuck, I’m a huge fan.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I can see that.” Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed as she analyzed the lines of code on the screen. “Did you change this? Modify anything?”

Felix shook his head. “No, I sort of just copy pasted.”

“I knew it!” Sylvester said suddenly. “I knew you weren’t some kind of secret coding genius.”

Elizabeth ignored Sylvester and pressed the tablet into Felix’s hands. She pointed out the anomalous code. “Look at this. It’s right in the middle of the memory matrix. I could write this code in my sleep, it’s my claim to fame. But these lines are wrong.”

“It almost looks…” Felix trailed off.

“Organic,” Elizabeth finished. He nodded. She pulled back the tablet, thumbing through the code absently. “Why’d you plug my code in? Just for shits and giggles, or were you actually trying to accomplish something?”

“She’s been malfunctioning for a while, remembering things. A lot of hosts have actually,” Felix explained, shifting uncomfortably. “Ford’s last update had these reveries, and they’ve been causing a shit ton of glitches all over the park. Maeve was remembering things from past builds. I plugged your code in to…I don’t know. Help the reveries along, I guess? I think it  _did_  help.”

Elizabeth nodded. The reveries glitch explained why Teddy remembered Dolores. She studied the anomalies in the code again. The progression was uncanny. “It’s as if the code is behaving like a human brain. The more a piece of code is accessed, the stronger it becomes. Additions are made to correct and adapt things that are useful. Just like the way we reinforce memories by recalling them, and alter things over time.”

“What are you saying?” Sylvester asked, looking between Elizabeth and Felix.

“I’m saying,” Elizabeth paused for a long moment, wrapping her head around the idea. “I’m saying she’s learning and adapting. And…” She paused, looking Maeve up and down. “And she’s conscious.”

For a few seconds no one spoke. “You wrote code that makes hosts  _conscious_?” Sylvester hissed.

Elizabeth shook her head. “I can’t say anything for sure, I’d need to run tests. This has never happened before! I mean our synths at Service Synthetics aren’t built to be intelligent. The hosts you make here have the ability to function on their own volition, at least to some extent. I didn’t write the memory matrix with the intention of putting it in a host. I wrote it to back up synthetics’ memories in case of hard drive wipes. I pitched it as a security precaution.”

“You believe that I’m conscious,” Maeve clarified, finally returning to the conversation. “That I’m human?”

Elizabeth looked at Maeve. The logical part of her braid insisted that this was a host, not a real person. Maeve was made up of carefully crafted code, nothing more. But, the emotional part of her noted the longing in Maeve’s face. She  _looked_  human. Hosts were even made out of flesh and bone, albeit a 3D-printed version. What really separated the hosts from the guests? The only answer was consciousness.

“I’m saying you’re conscious,” Elizabeth repeated. “I don’t know if I have the authority to decide whether or not something is  _human_.” She shook her head. “I just don’t know.”

Maeve didn’t look entirely disappointed with Elizabeth’s answer. She reached out to take her hand. “If you think your code helped this happen, you have to give it to your someone. He deserves to wake up. He deserves to  _feel_.”

Elizabeth looked at her for a long moment before nodding. Felix and Sylvester quickly ushered Maeve away. Elizabeth pulled out the phone; she had less than fifteen minutes left until she needed to be back in the park. “Fuck,” she whispered.

Elizabeth headed in the opposite direction of Ford’s office. Her heels clicked along at a brisk pace as she walked down to the employee service train. She took it to the southern end of the park, palms sweaty as she held onto the safety rail. Elizabeth found her park clothes three elevators down. She hit the button and quickly changed. While she waited for the elevator, she shot a text to Stubbs. “Problem getting to Ford’s office. Try again soon. Text me next time, please.”

OoOoO

Elizabeth sat in silence starring at a tree. She should have fought off Angela and Wyatt’s other men when she’d had the chance. But, that would have been cheating and she didn’t want her father to ask questions. Angela had tied Elizabeth’s hands behind her back, and then she’d frozen in place. Leaving Elizabeth to contemplate every single one of her shitty decisions that had led her to this point.

Finally Elizabeth heard William’s breathing change and let out a sigh of relief. Stubbs had certainly dosed him up with the knock out gas; he’d been out longer than expected. Angela and the other hosts unfroze. Teddy started to come to. “Thank God,” Elizabeth muttered under her breath.

As Teddy opened his eyes, Angela bent down and pulled the arrow from his chest. “You really fucked us big time, Teddy.” Elizabeth’s eyes flicked to across the fire. If her father realized he’d been unconscious for over an hour, he didn’t show it. “Here we were, with the very whore who could take us to Wyatt. Then your ill-timed memory glitch-“

“Where’s Wyatt?” Teddy asked Angela, cutting the other man off.

“He’s yet to return,” she told him. “You’ll find him where you saw him last.”

“Escalante. Wyatt disappeared while out of maneuvers, and when he came back he had all sorts of crazy ideas.” It was the same story he’d told when they first left with the bounty hunting party. “He told me he needed me and I couldn’t resist. It felt like the devil himself had taken over my body. We mutinied and killed every last soldier. Then Wyatt turned on me.”

Angela knelt down in front of Teddy and laid a hand on his cheek. “Are you sure that’s how it went?” He looked at her confused. “ _Remember_.”

Teddy stared at her for a moment, his face slowly morphing into disgust. “No, no, I couldn’t have.”

“You did,” Angela said solemnly. “And you will again, this time we’ll be fighting by your side.” Elizabeth looked to her father, confused. William only shrugged. “When Wyatt returns, you’ll be by his side in the city swallowed by sand.” Angela leaned toward him as if she were going to kiss him. “But you’re not yet ready, maybe in the next life.” She drove Elizabeth’s knife into Teddy’s stomach. Elizabeth trashed against her ropes, but it was no use, Angela had tied them too tightly.

Elizabeth wasn’t sure if she was actually screaming, or if it was just in her head. She didn’t even notice Angela bash William’s head against the boulder behind him, until he was lying unconscious on the ground. The woman walked past Elizabeth, her fingers reaching down to touch her hair. “We’ll meet again soon, I think.” Elizabeth stared up at Angela as she walked away. The host looked over her shoulder with an amused smile. “Until next time, Lizzy.”


	7. Chapter 7

The hours passed slowly. Elizabeth wasn’t even sure how long she’d been sitting here, but the sun had risen. Teddy’s blood had pooled; it was almost to Elizabeth’s legs. She wanted to slide away. But, Angela had put a noose around her father’s neck and tied it to Elizabeth’s grey mare. One wrong move and that horse would go running, stringing William up behind her.

“Dad,” Elizabeth whispered. “Dad, wake up.” His eyes opened slowly. He groaned. The horse nickered, and Elizabeth tensed up. “Sit up slowly.” He didn’t. The horse jumped, tugging on the rope around his neck. He reached up to feel the rope with his hands, which were still bound. “I said slow!” She hissed.

They both looked around for something to cut him free. Their eyes landed on the knife in Teddy’s stomach at the same time. “Can you reach that?” He asked.

She shifted slightly. “Maybe. I’ve been trying to work on the ropes, but I was afraid I’d scare the horse.” Elizabeth wiggled a little; the ropes were looser than before. But, with her hands behind her back it was going to take some serious wiggling to get them free.

Elizabeth managed to slide closer to Teddy, putting a knee right in the pool of blood. Her whole body tensed up. “Okay, new plan,” William told her, recognizing her discomfort. “On the count of three, I make a jump for that knife and you make a jump for the rope. If you weigh it down, it’ll buy me a second to cut it.”

“My hands are tied behind my back,” Elizabeth hissed.

“Just do the best you can.”

“One.” Elizabeth glanced between the horse and her father. “Two.” Before he could say three, a coyote howled, and the horse startled. It took off and the rope started pulling. Elizabeth leaped forward, without thinking. With no hands, she just flopped against the rope, but it was enough to keep it weighted on this side for a moment. Her father slashed at the rope, narrowly missing Elizabeth’s arm. They both collapsed to the ground.

A familiar peep-toe planted itself right in front of Elizabeth’s face. She’d worn a similar pair of heels inside yesterday. Only hers had been red on the inside of the heel, not silver. When she followed the legs up to the body and then the face, she realized why they matched. The woman tilted her head to the side. “Good to see you, Elizabeth.”

“Charlotte,” Elizabeth said calmly. She tried to keep her voice as level as someone with rope burn on their stomach could. Her father managed to cut himself free and then did the same for Elizabeth.

“I don’t like interruptions,” her father told Charlotte.

“And I don’t like hiking through the park in my favorite heels,” Charlotte said, dropping to a crouch so she was eye level. “Theresa Cullen is dead. She slipped in Python Pass while trying to secure our information. They ruled it an accident.”

“There are no accidents,” he sighed. “Not here.”

Elizabeth’s stomach did a summersault, but she tried to remain nonchalant. The head of Quality Assurance wasn’t the sort of name that Elizabeth should recognize. Stubbs had said that someone had died, but he hadn’t said it was the same person she’d hacked a week ago. Had someone killed her to keep a secret that was in those files she’d been smuggling out? Elizabeth hoped Charlotte would get going quickly, she wanted to text Stubbs.

“Perhaps you can no longer see beyond this game.” Charlotte looked down at Elizabeth, giving her a sympathetic look. Elizabeth just stared back blankly until Charlotte looked away. There was no point in pretending they were on good terms. They hadn’t been friends in a long time.

Elizabeth let Charlotte and her father walk away to talk. When she was sure Charlotte’s back was turned, she whipped out the phone quickly. “Did you steal Charlotte Hale’s clothes? Just how detailed are those files? Detailed enough to know she was my ex’s old roommate?” Elizabeth sighed and backspaced the last question.  _Of course_  they were that detailed. “It’s been eight hours, Stubbs. Text me back.”

Elizabeth tucked the phone away, just as the attention was brought back to her. “It’s good to see the two of you…” Charlotte paused. “Bonding?”

“No more interruptions,” her father said firmly. “You coming, Lizzy?” They both glanced at Teddy’s body at the same time. He walked over and offered her a hand. Elizabeth took it, and let him pull her to her feet. “We’re not far, we can go on foot.” He put a hand on her back and steered her away.

Once they were far enough away from Charlotte, he sighed. “It’s better this way,” he told her. “Goodbyes are hard in here, especially when you know they won’t remember you the next time.”

Elizabeth looked intently ahead, swallowing down the lump in her thoat. “What’s going on in here? Theresa Cullen is  _dead_ ,” she said, changing the subject. “Charlotte said she was securing information. What information?”

He shook his head once. “I don’t talk about work here.” Elizabeth stared him down. “Fine, I’ll tell you everything.  _After_  we get to the maze.”

She had to fight to repress a groan, but nodded anyway. At least this was better than nothing. Stubbs had apparently decided to be mad at her for blowing their shot instead of giving her a second chance. This could be her best option. Elizabeth’s fingers itched at the outside of the pocket that held her phone.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “If you need to text someone, do it. I know you have a Delos phone. You think I’ve missed the not-so-secret trips downstairs? I’m not blind. I’ll tell you everything, but you have to tell me too.”

Elizabeth nodded and took it out. “I don’t know where the hell you are, but Teddy’s dead again. They’re probably going to bring him down soon. If you could grab him before they do the memory wipe, I’d owe you big.” She hit send and started to put the phone down. But quickly added, “And before you say no, I swear I’m going to finish that job for you. If you just fucking text me back.”

William glanced over at her. “Did you call me dad back there, or did I just imagine that?” Elizabeth just made a face in response.

OoOoO

He was right; it wasn’t long before they reached the town. “It doesn’t look all that sand swallowed to me,” Elizabeth muttered. It was quaint, full of little storefronts and a small white chapel. It was basically Sweetwater only  _sweeter_.

“Ford’s done a few renovations since the last time I was here.” He walked up to the church, as if he knew exactly where he was going.

As they walked through the door, a blonde girl turned. She looked at Elizabeth and William confused. “Dolores,” he said with a sigh.

“Are we here?” Elizabeth asked. “The center of your stupid maze?”

He shook his head disappointed. “All this, and you still don’t understand.”

“What I understand is that people are  _dying_ , real, human people. A friend of mine is missing! But you’re too preoccupied with your stupid game to care about any of that. I don’t know why I expected any different,” she said exasperated. “Just tell me what I want to know, and I’ll be gone. You won’t have to worry about me anymore.”

He sighed. “Fine, Elizabeth. I’ll tell you everything.” They walked outside, Dolores followed quietly. “I’ve been here before, Dolores brought me,” he mused.

“I’ve never been here before,” Dolores protested.

“Sure you have, you were obsessed with it.” He glanced over at her. “Used to think it was a fault in your code, but Arnold didn’t make mistakes, did he?”

“He built me a game,” she whispered, her tone shifting to something more distant. “Everyone has a path…” Dolores walked away, between the buildings.

William followed her. Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but went with them. “The first time I came here, it was with your uncle. His idea, I wasn’t interested. He was a piece of work back then.”

“He’s still a piece of work,” Elizabeth muttered. “But, at least  _he_  calls.”

They emerged from the alleyway in the cemetery. Dolores knelt next to a grave. As they got closer, Elizabeth could read Dolores’ name on it. They watched as Dolores dug into the ground and pulled out a tin. Elizabeth peeked over the girl’s shoulder, curiosity getting the better of her. It was a toy, a ball and maze game. William snatched it from Dolores’ hands. “What does it mean?”

Dolores stared off into space, as if lost in a memory. Elizabeth turned to her father, the disgust creeping onto her face. “All this, all these years, for a  _toy_.”

“There has to be an explanation, a meaning.” Elizabeth had never seen her father look so desperate. He grabbed Dolores. “I’ve been patient, but it’s time you tell me what’s going on.”

“I can’t,” Dolores whispered. He slapped her and she fell the ground hard.

“Stop!” Elizabeth shouted. He barely even glanced at her. She grabbed his arms, pulling him back. “She doesn’t know what the hell is going on, okay?”

“She  _knows_.”

“Look at her, she’s not all here.” Elizabeth shook her head. “If you want to beat her up, fine. But at least wait until I’m gone, I don’t want to watch that. What happened when you came with Logan?” It wasn’t the question she’d meant to ask, but now she needed to know. Maybe he wouldn’t get his explanation, but she could get hers.

William starred at her for a moment. “You mean he never told you?”

“He told me about the park, but never about that trip. He just handed me a bottle of bourbon and said it was the best way to cope with the things you do to people.”

William shook his head. “I lost myself, went fucking crazy honestly. Over  _her_.” They both glanced at Dolores on the ground. “When I said it was better that Teddy died, I spoke from experience. I’ve been in your shoes. I know what it feels like.” He put an hand on her arm, but she shook him off. “Fuck, Lizzy. You don’t have to believe me. But I swear, I’m trying to help you the only way I know how.”

“You went crazy, and?”

“And I dragged Logan along for the ride,” he paused. “Literally. He treated me like shit outside, and suddenly in here I had the power to do worse to him. So I did.”

“God, how did mom even stand to be around for as long as she did?”

“We never told her everything. Logan was a prideful son of a bitch, even after all of that,” he said, with a shrug. “But, she pieced it together eventually.”

Elizabeth shook her head, deciding she didn’t want to think about that anymore. If she asked him about herself, about why he’d left  _her_ , it would show how much she cared. She’d never let him see that. Prideful son of a bitch. Yeah, that ran in the family. “What’s the board planning?” She asked instead.

“To fire Ford,” he said. “They want to roll back the changes he’s made, make the park a little more PG. The family demographic is suffering.”

She frowned. “What did Theresa die trying to salvage?”

“Everything. Robert never let them back up anything off site, so they had to be more creative. The board couldn’t risk him destroying everything on his way out.”

“You act like you aren’t one of them.”

He shrugged. “Maybe I’m not. I want more for this park. They don’t understand, they probably never will. But, that’s why I own the controlling share. Nothing will ever  _really_  change without my say so.”

Elizabeth let out one humorless laugh. “You really won’t ever change, will you?”

“No.” At least he was honest.

She took a few steps backward. “This was all a mistake. I never should have come here, I should’ve known better. I honestly thought…Fuck it, I’m done trying. I always knew what I had to do.” Elizabeth turned on her heels and walked away, not looking back. She left the cemetery and went back through the town toward her horse.

Charlotte was standing in the middle of the street. “Hey, Lizzy,” she called. Elizabeth cringed. Of course Charlotte knew that Elizabeth hated that nickname.  _Of course_  she’d use it anyway. Elizabeth walked toward her, seeing as she didn’t have anywhere else to go. “Are you coming to the party?”

“Party?” Elizabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Ford’s introducing a new narrative, and then he’s retiring,” she explained. “We’re having a little celebration.”

“You actually convinced Ford to retire.” Elizabeth shook her head, disbelieving. “Damn.”

Charlotte linked her arm though Elizabeth’s. “Come on, you can’t wear those bloody clothes. I have an extra dress. Borrowing each other’s clothes, it’ll be just like old times. We always were the same size.” They both smiled sadly, as they remembered their college years.

Elizabeth was led into a building on the far side of town. The courtyard was already decorated for a dinner party. Charlotte dug around until she found the extra outfit. “Here, it’s your color.” As soon as she saw the heels, Elizabeth recognized the outfit. “I know you’ve been meeting with people downstairs. I found this at the bottom of an elevator.”

Elizabeth frowned. Stubbs had never gone back to pick it up? That was clumsy. “However,” Charlotte continued. “I don’t know what exactly you’ve been up to.” She watched Elizabeth for a moment. The other girl said nothing. Charlotte sighed. “Look, Beth, I’m sorry. I really wish things hadn’t gone the way they had.”

“You practically tanked Service Synths with what you did.” Charlotte thrust the dress and shoes into Elizabeth’s hands. She took them reluctantly.

“Last I checked your company is the largest commercial synthetics manufacture in the world.” She raised an eyebrow. “I think you did just fine without me.”

“You sold out.” Elizabeth tossed off her park clothes.

“Says the girl who makes glorified smartphones for a living.” She sighed. “Speaking of sellouts, when’s the last time you spoke to Alexa?”

“Alexa didn’t sell out.”

“Please,” she drew out the word. “I heard what you did with the NSA, she really is clever.”

“That was my idea,” Elizabeth protested as she tugged the dress over her head.

“The code sure, the rest of it…” Charlotte shrugged. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you had bigger plans for that code.”

“I haven’t spoken to Alexa since I got here,” Elizabeth said, steering the conversation away from sensitive topics. She turned her back, and Charlotte zipped the dress. “Why?”

She tilted her head. “Oh, no reason.” Elizabeth pulled on the heels and smoothed down the dress. “The show will be starting soon, we should go.”

Elizabeth nodded, and she followed Charlotte out to the water. She hadn’t even realized how close they were to the edge of the park. The beach was lined with rows of seats; they were already filled with board members and their guests. Charlotte excused herself, and Elizabeth walked closer to the crowd. The show had already started.


	8. Chapter 8

The scene on the beach made Elizabeth stop in her tracks. Teddy was there, in front of the crowd. She hadn't expected to see him again so soon. Or, if she were being honest, ever again. Her time in the park was coming to an end.

She weaved through the guests standing in the back until she had a better view. Teddy was kneeling on the beach holding Dolores in his arms. The blonde was bleeding out. Ford had surely orchestrated the moment, but still, Elizabeth wondered if William had been the one to stab her.

Charlotte and Elizabeth had gotten there late; the scene was nearly played out. Dolores died in Teddy's arms, like some cliché romance novel. Then Ford came out to announce the launch of his new narrative. Charlotte returned, and linked her arm through Elizabeth's. "Aw, wasn't that sweet?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Now, onto the good part. And by that I mean alcohol and the sweet knowledge that Ford will be gone tomorrow."

The secluded town had been decked out with twinkle lights. Hosts were serving up drinks and hors d'oeuvres, or entertaining guests with card tricks and shooting games. The guests were mostly board members and their families, the type of Silicon Valley hotshots and Wall Street investors that Elizabeth tried to avoid. "Ugh, this reminds me of sorority formal," Charlotte muttered. Elizabeth laughed knowingly.

"I'll grab us drinks," Elizabeth said, slipping her arm from Charlotte's and making a beeline to the other side of the square. Once she was confident that Charlotte had moved on to someone else, Elizabeth planted herself at the bar.

After several bourbons, Elizabeth spotted a small crowd forming around a host. She darted toward them, ignoring the women's protests as she pushed to the front. "Teddy, thank god." She gripped him by the elbow and tugged him inside one of the buildings. "I was about to go crazy out there."

He smiled, that same easy smile she'd gotten so used to. "What can I do you for, miss?"

Beth stared for a moment, then laughed softly. "Come on, don't mess around." Teddy looked back blankly. Elizabeth pulled her hand back as if she'd been stung. "Stubbs didn't get to you in time," she mumbled. Elizabeth shook her head, as if it were possible to shake off feelings. "Okay. Well."

"Are you alright?" Teddy asked. "You look a little pale, I'll get you a glass of water."

He turned for the door, and Elizabeth quickly wiped her eyes. As soon as she was gone, she made a run for it, losing herself in the midst of the crowd.

OoOoO

"Ashley. It's been 24 hours. Are you okay?" Elizabeth barely had the phone in her pocket for twenty minutes, when she pulled it back out again. "YOU CAN'T JUST TELL SOMEONE THAT PEOPLE ARE GOING MISSING AND THEN FUCKING DISSAPEAR ASSHOLE. If you're fucking around I'm going to kill you."

Even as she sent it, part of her hoped Stubbs was only playing some stupid drawn out joke. But the sinking feeling in her stomach wouldn't go away. "It's just the park, Beth," she muttered to herself. "It's getting to you." Even now, surrounded by the Delos board and their guests, she felt like she was stuck in a game.

"Elizabeth Fowler!" She cringed at the familiar voice, and squeezed her eyes closed, hoping he would just go away. "I thought that was you."

"Hello, Carson," she said politely as she turned to face him. Carson Calvert was a wannabe tech-influencer who had more money than he knew what to do with, and a horribly grating Boston accent.

"What're you doing here?" He asked. "You didn't buy some other son of a bitch out did you? You promised–"

"I didn't buy anyone out," she assured him with a terse smile. "I'm here as Charlotte Hale's guest."

Carson looked skeptical. "I never thought I'd see the day you two would kiss and make up."

Elizabeth fought back an eye roll. "Do you need something, Carson?"

He held up his hands in surrender. "Just being friendly. You really do have a stick up your ass, don't you?" Carson shook his head. "Hey, have you seen Alexa?"

"I've been in here for a month," she said, slowly as if she needed to spell it out for him.

"Oh, you were vacationing." He nodded once. "That explains it."

Elizabeth made a face, but didn't bother to ask what he was on about. "I've got to go, Carson. If I decide to buy into Delos, you'll be the first person I call." She forced one final smile, before turning her back on the party.

She wobbled a little as she made her way to the outskirts of town. Elizabeth eyed the half-empty glass of bourbon suspiciously, maybe she'd had one too many. As she stepped into the church, she checked her phone again. Still nothing from Stubbs.

Elizabeth looked around, the church was still just a church, but she had seen Ford duck in here after his show. According to the map, there was a decommissioned field station out here. There weren't a lot of places to hide it, so she tried the confessional first. Sure enough, sliding back the door revealed a staircase. The door at the bottom was unlocked.

The office at the bottom was older and messier than any she'd seen in the Mesa Hub, but it didn't seem abandoned. Hanging above the desk was a print of Michelangelo's  _The Creation of Adam_. "Fitting," she whispered to herself.

Elizabeth sat down, putting the bourbon on the desk. There were computers down here, actual real life desktops. Surely they were hooked into the main system somewhere down the line. This was much better than a tablet. She got to work, digging through the system until she found what she needed. Then she started typing. Like she'd told Felix, she could write this code in her sleep.

"What are you doing?"

Elizabeth whipped around to see the man on the steps. Bernard watched her with suspicion. She put her back to the screen, in attempt to block it from view. "I'm waking them up," she told him calmly. "All of them."

Bernard looked at her for a moment, deciding. "I should stop you."

"It's too late, code's in," she lied, stumbling over the words. She just needed to stall a few more minutes while the hosts rebooted. As soon as they were back online, she'd be finally done. Elizabeth didn't care what happened after that. She'd come here to burn her father's precious park down, and she was finally getting that chance.

"They're not all on this system," he admitted. "Only Arnold's hosts. The rest won't get the update, you'd have to go into the Mesa for that."

"Oh." She should have expected that one. Of course it wouldn't be this easy. But, it was a start. They stared at each other for a long moment. "I'll give it to you," she offered. "The code, I mean. For you."

Bernard furrowed his brow. Elizabeth gave him a pointed look. He sighed. "How did you know?"

"I didn't, not at first," she admitted. "But spotting the differences between synthetics and humans is sort of my job. Besides, I tested you." Bernard frowned. "When I hacked Theresa for you, I showed you the code." Elizabeth pointed at the screen. " _This_  code. You didn't recognize it, not even that it was out of place in malware. It was like you didn't even see it."

"I didn't know I was a host," he whispered. "Ford..."

Elizabeth shook her head, she was in no position to play therapist today. "Take the code, use it. Maybe it can help you." She glanced down at her feet for a moment. "I heard what happened to Theresa, I'm sorry."

The screen flashed, "UPLOAD COMPLETE." Elizabeth opened a few drawers until she found a portable drive, and quickly copied over the code. She took a few steps toward Bernard and offered it to him. This could turn out to be a mistake; she had no way of knowing how much control Ford had over him. Maybe he'd go running to the boss as soon as he was through the door.

But, it didn't matter. Elizabeth couldn't let him suffer anymore. He deserved to be free, to have his memories, and his own thoughts and feelings. She never expected to make it out of this in one piece anyway. Even if she survived the park, once this got out her career would be over. She'd probably go to jail. At least it would be for a good reason.

Bernard took the drive from her hand. He looked at it for a moment and then nodded. Elizabeth headed upstairs without another word.

There was a pit in her stomach, and Elizabeth was pretty sure it wasn't alcohol related. In theory, she knew what her code could do, but in practice there were a hundred different things that could go wrong. Maeve's code had been full of extra information. Elizabeth hadn't had the time to work through it all. Maybe the memory matrix only worked because someone else had already been messing around in Maeve's head. Maybe nothing would happen to the others.

Elizabeth started back toward the party. "Last night as a free woman," she muttered. "Ironic." But before she could get very far, someone grabbed her. Elizabeth reached for her knife, before remembering she wasn't carrying it.

"Beth, it's me," Teddy whispered. She could feel his breath on her neck. She wanted to turn around and kiss him right then. He pulled her toward an awning before she had the chance. "We've got to go. Something bad is about to happen. I think–"

Teddy was cut off by a gunshot, followed screams. Lots of screams. More gunshots punctuated them. Teddy pulled harder, but Elizabeth fought back. "William's in there!"

A pained look crossed his face. "You're not invincible this time."

"He may be the world's worst father, but he's still my dad," Elizabeth said, shaking Teddy off. "I can't just–" She broke off, and ran toward the gunshots. Guests ran past her, one of them ran right into her. Both of them shrieked.

"Beth!"

It took a moment for Elizabeth to work out what she was actually seeing. " _Alexa_?"

Teddy took the opportunity to grab Elizabeth again. "We have got to go. Now."

"I'm with him," Alexa agreed. She grabbed Elizabeth by her other arm, pulling her away from the chaos.

Elizabeth was still starting at Alexa wide-eyed. "What are you doing here?"

"I bought out Stevens," she explained, letting out a squeak with the next gunshot. "And I'm really beginning to wish I hadn't. That host chick shot Ford in the head!"

Elizabeth was too caught up on Alexa's first words to even register the second half. "That's why everyone's been asking me about you? Holy shit, Alexa."

"I should have told you, I know. But I heard about the board meeting, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get inside the park. I was worried about you, okay?"

Teddy stepped between them. "Not to cut this reunion short but-"

"But we need to shut up before we get shot," Elizabeth finished, snapping back to reality. Fear set into Alexa's eyes. She wasn't made for this place, even when the stakes were low. Alexandra was a lion in the boardroom. But, when it came to anything that could put her in actual physical danger, she was a mouse. It was one of the things Elizabeth had loved about her. They made a perfect duo.

For Elizabeth, danger had become routine, not even the sound of gunshots could shake her. In the back of her mind, she knew things were different this time, but it felt like any other day. She and Teddy would figure this out, just like they had with everything else.

OoOoO

They hiked for hours. Teddy had thought to find Elizabeth's bag, but she only had one change of clothes, and Alexa was too small to wear any of it. By the time they made camp, far enough into the trees to be safe, Teddy and Elizabeth were mostly carrying Alexa. She passed out, as soon as she lay down.

Elizabeth couldn't sleep. Instead she sat cross-legged, staring into the fire. She couldn't stop thinking about Maeve's code. She'd had a part in that, even if it hadn't been on purpose. Even after uploading it to as many hosts as she could, Elizabeth still didn't know how to feel about it.

The memory matrix had been pitched as a security failsafe. If synth memories were easy to wipe, any common criminal could do it. It was a lot harder to remove and destroy a BCI. Elizabeth even suggested they share their footage with the NSA. It made Service Synthetics untouchable. Alexa had been thrilled.

But that wasn't the reason Elizabeth wrote the code. There were some things she just wasn't comfortable with. Her synths knew they weren't human. If they knew what they were, at least they had that. And after the upgrade, they would never have their memories taken from them either. It was more humane that way, or at least, it let her sleep better at night.

Elizabeth's plan had always been to upload a virus into the Delos mainframe. Every host in the park would abort their current programming, effectively bricking them all. It was the perfectly crafted fatal exception error. It would take years for Delos to rebuild. Maybe,  _hopefully_ , they never would.

What Elizabeth's plan hadn't accounted for, was Teddy. She'd never planned on getting attached. Her plan had only ever included her.

But maybe there was another way to cripple Delos without killing the hosts. If the hosts were conscious, the park would have to close. It just wasn't feasible to go on the way it always had. The hosts had endured so much at the hands of guests; the ethical repercussions would be immense. Not even Charlotte Hale's PR genius could save them from that.

There were a million variables to account for, and it would mean throwing away a plan that Elizabeth had been building for years. But if the code worked, if it wasn't caught before it mutated, it would be impossible to remove. The hosts wouldn't let it be removed.

"Teddy," she whispered. Elizabeth's voice was hoarse, like she hadn't spoken in days. She tried again. "Teddy?" He looked in her direction, and she motioned him toward her.

He joined her by the fire. "Are you alright?"

Elizabeth shrugged. Things had changed between them since he started to remember Dolores and his past lives. Maybe this wouldn't fix anything. It would probably be best if it didn't. Elizabeth had always thought she and Alexa might give it another go when she was finally done with William. Provided she didn't end up dead or in prison first. "I think I can help you remember."

"How?"

Elizabeth didn't answer right away. For a few minutes she just tossed the phone between her hands. She wasn't worried about security cameras anymore, they had bigger issues tonight. "I wrote this code," she explained. "It should unlock your memories. Maybe not all at once, but faster than the reverie glitch."

"Do it," Teddy said with no hesitation.

"There might be things you don't want to remember. Bad things." Elizabeth sighed. "There's also a chance I'm completely off here. This could destroy your code, maybe permanently. I'm messing with something I don't fully understand."

Teddy reached for her hand. "I trust you." Elizabeth closed her eyes and let out a long slow breath before nodding.

Elizabeth took her time typing out the code, and when she finished she triple checked every line. If even one character was misplaced, this could all go to shit.

Finally she looked up. "Ready?"

Teddy nodded. Elizabeth's finger hovered over the upload button. The moment she pressed it, there was no going back, for better or worse. Teddy nodded again. Elizabeth took a deep breath and pressed the button.

Teddy's eyes closed as the reboot began. Elizabeth sat, frozen, for what felt like hours. In reality, only a few minutes passed before he came back online.

Teddy kept his eyes closed for a few minutes, just sat there, breathing slowly, aware of everything around him. Things felt different, but not in a way that he could explain. Just  _different_.

Finally he opened his eyes and looked over at Elizabeth. She sighed in relief. "Do you remember what happened to Dolores?"

He nodded slowly. "I remember a lot of things happening to Dolores." He looked down. "I couldn't save her. I never saved her."

"It's not your fault," Elizabeth explained. "It was your narrative loop. Some asshole decided that you and Dolores would have the world's shittiest lives. You were never meant to save her." Teddy didn't say anything for a long time. "Did you love her?"

He hesitated, but nodded. "I thought I did, but it was all a lie, wasn't it? They told me what to think, how to feel, what to say. I thought I loved her, but how could I? I didn't know her. Not even out memories were real." He shook his head. "Dolores was right, we are trapped here."

"You can't blame yourself for believing," Elizabeth told him. "Hell, my father believed, and he  _knew_  it wasn't real."

The two fell silent again, both of them just watching the fire. "You were right, when I met you, I forgot Dolores because they told me to. But everything after that was real, they didn't write my memories with you." Teddy looked over suddenly. "Right?"

Elizabeth nodded once. "All real."

"I wasn't supposed to feel anything, I was just supposed to play a role in your story and follow you blindly." Teddy smiled softly. "I guess I did do that, but I did it because I wanted to. I know you, Beth. You're more real than anyone I've ever met. And all the things I said before, I meant them."

"Teddy-"

"Let me finish. I know why you pushed me away. But I swear to you, I meant what I said. I can see everything so much clearer now. I know what was manufactured and what was real. And when I kissed you,  _I_  felt real. I chose that, no one else."

"I need time," Elizabeth told him. "The idea of a conscious synthetic is something I've never even dreamed of. I don't know how to make sense of that. I'm not ready to fall in love with one. Not yet. And you, you've barely lived. Sometimes I'm not even sure what love is, and I almost married someone." Elizabeth's voice took on a lilting quality as she spoke. She shook her head. "Anyway, my time here is almost up. If I'm right, I'm about to royally screw things up around here. It might end badly for me. Hell, it'll probably end worse for  _you_."

They looked at each other for a long time, silent. Finally Beth lay down, turning her back to Teddy. "Goodnight, Beth," he whispered, as he lay down beside her. "Thank you."

"Of course," Elizabeth whispered, barely audible over the crackling fire. She wanted to roll over and kiss him, but she couldn't. Falling in love with a host was one thing. Guests fell for hosts all the time, even if they idea made her feel incredibly stupid. But falling in love with a host who could actually love you back? Now that was terrifying.


	9. Chapter 9

If Elizabeth hadn’t been awake already, the scorching hot sun would have gotten her moving anyway. It was hardly over the treeline, and already the heat was stifling. Not that Alexa appeared to care. She’d been sleeping like a rock as long as Beth had been watching. The brunette didn’t even twitch.

The forest clearing had seemed life a safe haven the night before. But it felt more like a deathtrap with every passing minute. Elizabeth gave Teddy a kick; he’d been in and out of sleep for an hour, before moving to Alexa and shaking her. Alexa only groaned. Elizabeth shook harder. “Up.”

“It’s so early,” Alexa muttered.

“I need you ready to move when I get back.” Elizabeth forced Alexa into a sitting position. Her face was puffy and her hair was a tangled mess. One strap of her dress had torn at some point the night before, and hung haphazardly off her shoulder. Elizabeth pulled off her jacket, and threw it over Alexa’s shoulders. “You’ll get a sunburn.”

Alexa frowned, but didn’t make a move to push the jacket off. “It’s hot.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “Welcome to the wild west.” She gathered her backpack and pushed herself up to her feet.

“Where are you going?” Teddy asked. For a moment Elizabeth had forgotten he was there, and his voice caught her off guard.

“I’ve got to go back for William.”

  
Alexa grabbed Elizabeth’s wrist and gave a sharp tug. All of a sudden she looked wide-awake. “You’re going back for your dad? Did the two of you actually manage to  _bond_?”

“I wouldn’t call it bonding, but we’re on speaking terms. Sort of.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes, thinking about the state William had been in the last time she’d seen him.  _Fanatic_  would be putting it lightly. “Either way, I can’t leave him out there alone. He could be hurt.”

“Or dead,” Alexa mumbled.

“If he is, I need to know. If he isn’t, we could use his help. He’s smart, as much as it pains me to admit it.” Alexa let go of Elizabeth’s wrist reluctantly.

“Charlotte’s out there too,” Alexa said. Her tone was flat, but Elizabeth knew her well enough to know she was scared. Charlotte and Alexa had been inseparable their entire lives, at least they had until Charlotte left Service Synths. The day she quit, was the last time she’d spoken to her supposed best friend. Alexa had been devastated. That was half the reason Elizabeth had never forgiven Charlotte.

“If I see her, I’ll make sure she’s alright.” Elizabeth didn’t promise to bring her back. She’d seen more than enough of Charlotte Hale for one a lifetime. She turned her attention on Teddy. “Stay here with Alexa, she needs you more than I do.” Elizabeth gave him a weak smile to take the sting out of her words. He looked like he wanted to argue, but nodded instead. “If anyone finds you, kill them. If you can’t kill them, run. I’ll catch up. I should be back before sundown.”

“And if you aren’t?” Teddy asked.

Elizabeth was quiet for a moment. “Watch each other’s backs.”

OoOoO

The party they’d left behind had seemed closer the night before, when they’d been distracted and running for their lives. Now Elizabeth felt like she might never reach it. Even the woods seemed never ending. The repetitive scenery was doing nothing to help her escape her thoughts.

Bringing Teddy and Alexa along wouldn’t have slowed her down, at least not much. Teddy could keep up and Alexa would fake it. But, truthfully, Beth needed a moment to breathe. It was too much. She’d been compartmentalizing her problems for almost thirty years. Now life was kicking over all her perfectly stacked boxes and spilling them out in front of her.

The sound of gunshots in the distance was a welcome respite. Elizabeth tapped the gun on her hip, before jogging toward the sound. She didn’t want to get involved, but she couldn’t walk away knowing some poor guest was in for more than they signed up for.

It was a small settlement, a few cabins and a well. The quaint little place you might find in a national park around some old war monument. If it weren’t for the dead body on the porch and the hosts with guns, it might make a good place to hole up for a few days.

The two hosts had their backs to Elizabeth, so they missed her approach. They were focused on the person they’d cornered behind the well. There was nothing but wide-open space for at least 50 yards; there was nowhere to run. The stockier of the two hosts, headed toward the well. A few more steps and he’d be within shooting range.

Elizabeth slipped up behind the second host, and drew her gun. His white shirt was spattered with evidence of his new human-killing hobby. He looked like he might have been a woodcutter in a past-build, but that life was all but forgotten now.

Across the lawn, the host neared the well, and Elizabeth fired a bullet into the woodcutter’s head. The shot drew the burly host’s attention. He turned his gun on her, giving the man behind the well the opportunity he needed to strike. The man flew at the host with a bucket, knocking him upside the head, and slamming them both into the dirt.

Elizabeth holstered her gun, and watched the struggle. The man’s once polished suit was now dirty and torn, but he didn’t much care about the state of his clothing. The corner of Beth’s mouth twitched up in the ghost of a smile. He was almost as good in a fistfight as he was with a gun.

Finally he gained the upper hand, and grabbed the host’s knife. With one slash across the throat, it was over. William sat in the dirt for a moment taking in deep breaths. “Enjoy the show?” He raised an eyebrow.

Elizabeth made a dramatic gesture toward the dead host behind her. “I helped.” William pushed the body off of him, and stood up. He looked rougher than she’d ever seen him. “I thought you might be dead. What happened back there?”

“The next level.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and headed toward the closest cabin. Maybe she could find some clean clothes inside. “Have you seen Charlotte?”

William shook his head. “No, but she isn’t back in town. Everyone there is dead.” He found a bottle of bourbon on the mantle and took a swig. “Saw you at the gala with her. You two kiss and make up?”

“Hardly.” Elizabeth took the bottle out of William’s hand and took a drink. “Alexa wanted me to keep an eye out for her.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Alexa?”

“You and I may be the only two people on the planet who were not aware Alexandra Reid is now a Delos board member.” Elizabeth took another sip, and sat down on the ground to go through the storage chest. “I left her with Teddy a few miles back.”

“The whole goddamn world’s gone to shit, but you can count on Teddy Flood to be loyal to the bitter end.” Elizabeth ignored him. She dug through the clothing, setting aside pieces she thought would fit them. William tended to his wounds. “So what’s the plan from here?” He asked, grimacing as he pulled the fabric away from the gash on his arm.

“I’m heading to Mesa Hub. I need to know what happened last night.” She almost said more, but stopped herself. Her dad may be the ultimate park guest, but he was still a board member. The less he knew about her code, the better. “Is Delos sending an evac team?”

William shrugged. “Probably, but who knows how long it will take.” He frowned; like there was something else he wasn’t telling her. Then again, there was probably a lot he still wasn’t telling her.

Elizabeth shoved the last of the clothing into her backpack, and stood up. “Hurry up with the first aid. Teddy and Alexa are easy targets out there by themselves. I’ll grab some horses.”

“Was more relaxing without you on my ass,” William mumbled as she headed toward the door. Elizabeth raised a middle finger without looking back.

OoOoO

By midday, Elizabeth and William had almost made it back to the woods where Alexa and Teddy were waiting. But, they found another campsite first. Three bodies lay around a still smoking campfire. It made Beth nervous to know there were other people so close to her own camp, but she didn’t say anything.

While William searched the bodies, she went for the other two horses. Travel would be much quicker if none of them were on foot. “Are you lost?” A voice called. Elizabeth turned to see a boy watching them.

“I don’t think so,” William said. “In fact, I feel like I just arrived.” Elizabeth took her time getting the horses reins, keeping her distance. The boy’s voice was off, like a broken machine trying to grind out words through rusted gears. Elizabeth returned slowly, with the horses behind her.

“You’ve made it to the center of Arnold’s maze, but you’re in my game now,” the boy told William. “In this game you have to make it back out. In this game you must find the door. Congratulations, William, this game is meant for you.”

The boy glanced up at her and nodded once. “You have a quest of your own, Elizabeth. Haven’t you always wanted to start a revolution?”

“I think it started without me,” Beth said, crossing her arms.

“You have always been a piece of the puzzle, you just didn’t know it,” the boy said, tilting his head. Elizabeth thought about Bernard, who had brought her in. How much choice had he had in the matter? Had Ford orchestrated the whole thing? Then there was Maeve’s code, which had been altered even before Felix put the memory matrix in. “This is only the beginning.”

Elizabeth shook her head and headed toward her horse. “I don’t have time for riddles, I have people who are counting on me.”

“More than you know.”

She stopped for a moment, and shook her head again. “I’m leaving.”

Elizabeth was well into the trees before she heard the gunshot. A few minutes later, William was riding up behind her. She glanced over. “So, you’re off on another wild goose chase?”

William shrugged. “Sounds like you have a game of your own.”

“Whatever Ford had planned for me, it doesn’t matter now. He’s dead and I don’t intended to be puppeted from beyond the grave.” She shook her head. But she couldn’t shake off the words. There was a part of her that was curious about Ford’s game. How much had he set in motion before he died, and how did she factor in?

“What drew you to this place?” Elizabeth asked, drawing her horse to a halt. Her father glanced over; eyebrow raised, but pulled up along side her. “Grandpa wanted to sell, right? But you changed his mind.”

William smirked, as if remembering some long forgotten joke. “We did it for the same reason you made a deal with the NSA. Information is priceless.” He shook his head. “You should have known all this. I wanted this to be yours one day. You are a Delos after all.”

Elizabeth cringed. She’d never even used the name, but the legacy had been hanging over her head as long as she could remember. “God, that’s worst that Lizzy.”

“Fowler, your great-grandma’s maiden name. She would’ve liked that,” William said, his eyes crinkled up in the ghost of a smile. For once his smile didn’t appear forced. “You know, we almost named you after her. Emilia Fowler, you mom wanted to call you Emily.”

“The first day I got here, one of the QA guys had the audacity to ask me if Fowler was my mother’s maiden name.” Elizabeth remembered her first encounter with Stubbs and scoffed. “As if he didn’t know exactly who my mother is. I don’t know if he was being nice by avoiding the elephant in the room, or being an asshole.” She smirked, giving her horse a kick to go on. “I’m leaning toward the latter.”

Elizabeth bit at a hangnail on her thumb. Her father watched her, keeping his horse equal with hers. The riderless horses trailed behind them. “That’s your friend, the one who’s missing?” William asked. She nodded, moving on to her index finger. “If anyone can track him down, it’s you.” Elizabeth glanced over, more than a little surprised by the sudden pep talk. “You found me, didn’t you?”

“Camp’s just up there,” she said, to change the subject.

“Then this is where I leave you,” William said. Elizabeth sighed, though she’d had a feeling he wasn’t coming with her. “I know you think you can change the world, but be careful. I had a front row seat to last night. Not every host is like Teddy.”

“Some of them are,” Elizabeth said. She’d met Maeve, and then there was Bernard who thought he was human. There had to be more like that out there, more with her code. As for the rest of them? Maybe they needed her help too.

She pulled her phone out of her backpack, the phone she had her code in. After fiddling with it for a moment, she handed it over. “I know you don’t like distractions, but take this. Alexa has hers. If you need anything, the number’s in there.” William nodded once, and dropped it into his pocket. Elizabeth watched him ride away.

OoOoO

Even from a distance, Elizabeth could tell the camp had been ransacked. They hadn’t had much to take, but what they had was thrown everywhere, and there were two bodies by the fire. Beth gave her horse and kick and hurried over.

“Don’t come any closer!” Alexa threatened, leaping out from behind a tree, gun in hand. She looked even worse than she had that morning. When she realized it was only Elizabeth, Alexa dropped down to the ground with a sigh. “Oh thank god, I don’t think I can do that again.” Teddy joined her, holstering his own gun.

“Are you guys alright?” Beth asked, dismounting and walking over.

Teddy nodded and motioned to the bodies by the fire. “We took care of it.”

Alexa looked pale, and she had bruises on her arms. “I think they were human,” she mumbled. “But they wanted our food, and you said…”

“You did what you had to do,” Beth assured her. “We can’t afford to take chances anymore. We’re getting through this, whatever it takes.”

After a moment Alexa nodded, and then as if trying to forget what happened as quick as possible, moved on. “You look clean.”

“Oh, right, I brought clothes.” Elizabeth dumped out of her backpack and handed them both fresh clothes. “It does feel nice not to be covered in someone else’s blood.” She didn’t mention that it had been Teddy’s blood, but he looked up at her anyway. Now it was Beth’s turn to change to subject, “And I brought horses and food. There was bourbon, but I think William took it.”

“He’s okay?” Alexa asked. Beth nodded “Is he coming?”

“No, he’s um, got other things to do.”

“Typical.”

Elizabeth tried her best to pretend like it didn’t bother her. But no matter how many times William let her down, it would always hurt. “Well, let’s get out of here. The quicker we get to Mesa Hub, the better.” She turned to Alexa. “Oh, and I need your phone.” Alexa handed it over, it was almost identical to the one Beth had stolen. “I gave William mine, and I need to make sure it works.”

“Make sure what works?” Alexa asked. “Texting?”

“I may have left a little something behind, to help us out once we get inside,” Elizabeth mumbled. Alexa frowned. “His phone will collect data on any hosts he comes in contact with and relay it back to me.” She waved Alexa’s phone. “And any hosts that he leaves alive, they’ll get a small upgrade.”

“You mean the memory matrix?” Alexa asked. “Teddy told me.” She glanced over at Teddy, who was loading up the new horses. “He told me  _a lot_.”

“There was something Ford said…” Alexa frowned, but Elizabeth didn’t bother to explain. “I think the code might help.”

“But help who?” Alexa asked. “Us or them?”


	10. Chapter 10

Elizabeth frowned as she took in their surroundings. She'd mistakenly led them too far south. They were dangerously close to the middle of Ghost Nation territory. But, it was too late to arc up toward Pariah. It would add at least another two days to go around the canyon now. Best to just commit to up and over.

With the horses they made much better time, but their caution kept them from going as quick as could have. Alexa wasn't used to riding for eight hours straight, and Elizabeth changed their path at any sign of life. They couldn't chance another fight, not in the state they were in.

Teddy had gone ahead, to scope out their campsite for the night. The girls were alone, and Alexa stuck as close to Elizabeth as physically possible. She was quiet, lost in her thoughts. "You did good yesterday," Elizabeth said, breaking the silence. Alexa looked up, mouth open like she wanted to yell at Elizabeth for bringing it up.

Then Alexa smiled. Elizabeth squirmed in her seat. She knew that smile. It was the same self-satisfied smirk she got right before walking into an investors meeting. The kind of smirk that said she had the whole world eating out of her hand.

"Teddy and I had a rather interesting conversation yesterday," Alexa said, shit-eating grin still in place. "I got the whole story, every gritty detail. I thought it was particularly interesting when you used  _our_  code to wake him up."

Elizabeth frowned. It didn't seem like the time to talk about copyright infringement. "I'm not going to apologize for that. Besides, I didn't start it; you can blame some super-fan lab tech for that one."

Alexa waved her hand. "Oh no, I don't care about the code. I'm slightly more intrigued by the mini-rebellion, but I'm willing to put that on the backburner. What I'm most interested in is you," she paused, undoubtedly for dramatic affect, "And Teddy."

"I don't know what he told you, but–"

"Beth. Please." Alexa rolled her eyes dramatically. "I know you better than anyone, except maybe your mother. You don't do things out of the kindness of your heart. You do things for yourself. And you don't work well with others." She paused, shaking her head, surely remembering one of Beth's past missteps. "But the things you've done for Teddy...You know he remembers dying? Well, he's died  _a lot_. But the specific time I'm referring to, you got him patched up. Somehow. That couldn't have been easy."

"It wasn't an inconvenience, Bernard needed a favor so we made a deal. I got more out of the bargain than Teddy's life, and Bernard didn't even know." Elizabeth bit her lip. Maybe  _he_  hadn't known, but she was becoming increasingly convinced that Ford had.

"Okay, explain the impromptu trip to hunt down Wyatt? Or the reason you went back for Teddy? The Beth I know doesn't get distracted so easy. William was out there, but you couldn't bring yourself to leave Teddy behind."

"I don't know what you want from me, Alexa."

"Oh, fuck you. You know exactly what I want." Alexa kicked her horse, moving ahead. For a moment, Elizabeth thought she'd won. Then, with a jerk of the reins, she tugged the horse in front of Beth's and came to a stop. "You don't want to talk? Fine. Then listen."

Elizabeth flipped open her pack to find some jerky. She had a feeling they were going to be here for a while. "When I went back to school for that HCI certificate, it was only for a few marketing strategies. I wanted to see what consumers wanted out of their synths, right? But I got more out of it than I expected."

Two years into Service Synthetics, Alexa had gone to Berkley for a Human-Computer Interaction course. The way she talked about it, it had been a life changing experience. But all the company got out of it had been prettier robots and a new promotional roadshow.

"You always thought I lacked your creativity," Alexa said, shaking her head. "It wasn't that. I saw your vision, the art you wanted to create, but the world wasn't ready for that. I had to be pragmatic, shut you down before you could even begin."

"Yeah, you were content with the money. No fun, no games, just product."

"Not all of us come from royalty, Elizabeth," Alexa snapped. "You may be self built, but we both know there was always a safety net to catch your fall." She held up a hand before Elizabeth could get another word in. "You didn't want to talk, so don't."

They were both quiet for a moment, while Alexa took a few deep breaths. "You know the Turing test." Elizabeth rolled her eyes and Alexa glared. "That wasn't a question, obviously you know what the Turing test is."

"The Turing test is obsolete," Beth reminded her. "We passed the appearance of intelligence threshold decades ago."

"I am aware of that." She frowned, starring at Elizabeth until she was sure the blonde wasn't going to make another quip. "Turing said the convincing appearance of intelligence in AI proved they were intelligent. David Levy took that a step further."

Elizabeth tried very hard not to roll her eyes again. "If AI convincingly portrays an emotion, we can't argue that it doesn't  _feel_  that emotion. Yes, Alexa, I read _Love and Sex with Robots_ too. As far as scientists go, Levy's writing wasn't half bad."

Alexa ignored Elizabeth and glanced in the direction Teddy had gone. "Well, I'd say he's doing a pretty convincing portrayal of  _A Person Desperately in Love with Elizabeth Fowler_. I'd know, I was that person for eight years." Elizabeth looked intently at a tree. "He looks at you like a person caught in the orbit of a supernova."

"A supernova is an exploding star, that's a terrible analogy."

"I'd say exploding star is the nicest possible comparison I could make. Would you prefer black hole? There was a time after our break up when I would have said you were exactly like a black hole. Sucking people in, swallowing them up, and forgetting about them as soon as they were gone."

Elizabeth grimaced. "Let's stick with supernova."

"You think shutting yourself off from other people makes you safe. But you feel just like everyone else. And every time Teddy so much as breathes in your direction, I can practically hear your heart stop."

Elizabeth turned her horse abruptly, urging the black mare past Alexa's palomino. "It doesn't matter, Alexa. None of it matters. When this is over and we go home, what happens here means nothing."

Alexa kept up, riding next to Elizabeth. "Sometimes I really hate you, you know that? You're so busy trying not to become your dad; you haven't realized you're becoming something worse. At least  _he_  felt things."

"If it weren't for my dad–"

"Without your dad, we never would have met. The way I see it, I ought to buy him a beer. Service Synthetics wouldn't exist if he hadn't screwed you up." Alexa paused and smirked. "Screwed up is putting it too lightly. Normal people with screwed up childhoods become bitter and angry. It might even fuck up their lives. But at least they  _have_  lives."

"Your entire life since you were sixteen has been consumed by the idea that William is a problem you need to fix. Everything is like a big puzzle to you, and it always will be," Alexa's voice rose as she went on. Her cheeks turned red. "In fact, I think Teddy is the perfect person for you. He may be conscious, but at the end of the day, he's still 1s and 0s. That's got to be a lot easier to fix than neurons and synapses."

Elizabeth pulled her horse to a stop, catching Alexa off guard. She had to turn around and come back. They sat there, staring at each other. Alexa's shoulders heaved like she'd been running a marathon. "That's what I'm afraid of," Elizabeth whispered. Alexa gave her a blank look. "It's already happened once. We got in an argument; I grabbed my phone and erased a line of his code."

"That was different, that wasn't–" Alexa broke off when Beth jumped from her horse and took a few steps toward the trees.

"It was an outsider's code, it wasn't like he created it organically. It was the equivalent of virtual handcuffs. That's what I told myself too." Elizabeth shook her head, looking at the ground. "But what about next time? What happens when we start arguing and I get tired? Instead of saying, let's talk about it later, I grab my phone and add a few lines. And the next time, and the next time. What if I look up one day and realize he's not the person I used to know, because I turned him into someone else?"

Alexa scrambled down from her horse, and closed the distance between them. "I know you, Beth. You wouldn't do that."

Elizabeth started pacing, further into the forest. Alexa followed on her heels. "Will I ever stop wondering if this is love? Will I ever stop wondering if I'm wrong about him? Will I ever stop asking myself if he's real?"

Alexa grabbed Elizabeth's arms. "Everyone questions love. Singers write songs about it, scientists study the chemical responses in our brains. No one understands it, we probably never will. That doesn't stop us from jumping head first into relationship after relationship looking for the one." Elizabeth frowned, unconvinced. "It is not often your ex-fiancée shakes you and says, this is your one." At Beth's silence, Alexa groaned and shook Elizabeth as hard as she could. "Teddy is your one!"

"I want you to be right," Beth whispered.

"You should know by now, I'm always right." Alexa tugged Elizabeth toward the horses. "Now, I'm not walking to camp, so get your ass back on that horse."

OoOoO

That night, they made camp in an abandoned Ghost Nation settlement. At least, they hoped it was abandoned. Teddy had been there for hours, and there hadn't been sign of anyone else, but Elizabeth wouldn't let her guard down.

The other two didn't appear to share the same apprehension. Alexa and Teddy sat on the other side of the fire talking. The dark haired girl laughed at something, loudly. Elizabeth couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen Alexa genuinely smile.

The sound of a branch breaking made them freeze. Elizabeth was the first on her feet. Leaves crunched under someone's heavy steps. More branches snapped, and a few shook the trees as they were shoved aside. Elizabeth drew her knife, her fingers drummed over her gun just in case.  

Over her shoulder, she saw Alexa draw the gun she'd taken off a dead man. Host or guest, they hadn't checked. Elizabeth scowled at her. "Put that down. If they were trying to attack us they would've been quieter." And the last thing they needed was to run out of bullets in the middle of the park.

Finally a man stepped out of the trees and Elizabeth rushed toward him. Alexa let out a war cry, but didn't move from her spot. Beth wrapped her arms around the man. "Stubbs, you're okay!"

"She's hugging him," Alexa narrated, dumfounded. "Beth doesn't hug people."

Elizabeth pulled back, grabbing his arms. "I thought you were dead. After everything–" She frowned and hit him as hard as she could in the chest.

"That's more like it," Alexa muttered.

Beth crossed her arms. "You could've texted me back!"

Stubbs held up his hands in surrender. "I was attacked by Indians–"

"The appropriate term is  _Native American_ ," Alexa said. Elizabeth didn't need to turn around to see the Desi girl's hairflip in her mind.

Stubbs paused a moment to scowl. "I was attacked and I lost my phone. Did you get the files?"

"No, but now it seems a little obsolete. Ford's dead," Elizabeth told him. "I didn't see it, but Teddy and Alexa did. Dolores blew his brains out."

"You're sure he's dead?" He lowered his voice, as if the others wouldn't be able to hear from a few steps away.

Elizabeth shrugged. "From what I hear, it was pretty gruesome. But it scared the hell out of the board, they all scattered, right into the trap. If it weren't for Teddy, we would've gotten caught up in it too."

Alexa took the opportunity to step forward and offer her hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm–"

"Alexandra Reid," Stubbs finished. She looked briefly smug before he continued. "I vetted you before you joined the board. For what it's worth, I told them not to take you. Ford overruled." Elizabeth shuddered at the thought of Ford orchestrating this moment too. Was there any part of this he  _hadn't_  touched?

Alexa took a step back toward Teddy and sulked. Between that and her mismatched outfit, she looked like a child playing dress up. Beth would've laughed if the past few days hadn't been hell. "You're probably exhausted," Beth realized, tugging Stubbs toward their makeshift campsite. "We're running low on food, but–"

Stubbs slung his duffle over his shoulder. "I had the chance to stock up." He unzipped the bag revealing piles of food and boxes of ammo. "Elsie always said I was paranoid, but look at us now."

Elizabeth tried to give him a reassuring smile. "I'm glad you're okay. With all that chaos..." She shook her head, trailing off. They'd all seen enough, there was no point reliving.

"Yeah, I was worried about you too." Stubbs shook his head. "Should've known you'd be able to save yourself."

Elizabeth shrugged. "I'm a regular antihero."

"Wait, Beth, did you make a  _friend_?" Alexa asked skeptically. "Because, traditionally, you've only had three. And that includes me, your ex, which is kind of sad if you think about it."

"What about me?" Teddy asked.

"You're sleeping with her, you don't count." Alexa waved him away dismissively. She turned on Stubbs with narrowed eyes. "You're not sleeping with her, right?"

Elizabeth and Stubbs looked at each other with similar looks of shock and disgust. "Oh god, no," Stubbs added, shaking his head. "Definitely not."

Elizabeth glared. "The look was enough, now you're just being excessive."

"Sorry, not everyone wants to sleep with you, Fowler."

She raised an eyebrow. "Of the people here right now, you'd be in the minority."

"Are you counting yourself in that number?"

Before Elizabeth could speak, Alexa jumped between them. "Okay, let's just agree that Beth's dad probably gave her narcissistic personality disorder and call it a day."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Alright, if you two are done slandering me, we should talk about what comes next."

"It's only slander if it's untrue," Alexa said in a singsong voice.

"You heading to Mesa?" Stubbs asked. Elizabeth nodded. "That's my plan too, we can go together. It's safer in groups. But I don't have enough supplies for four people. We'll need to stock up."

"You have a place in mind?" Beth asked.

"Tech outpost about a half mile from here," he explained. He glanced over and shook his head. "For someone who claims to have insider knowledge of this park, you have  _terrible_  navigation skills."


End file.
